Digimon Adventure
by The Other Side of Darkness
Summary: Slight AU. One day at summer camp, eight children were transported to the digital world. Tai, Matt, Sora, Joe, Mimi, Izzy,TK, and Lucy. Together with their digimon partners they save the digital world. Close to the original storyline for the most part, but slight alterations for the addition of Lucy and her digimon, Skymomon.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Digimon.

Chapter One:

In the beginning, everything was peaceful. The birds sang happily, the animals played without fear of being hunted. The sky's were blue, the leaves were green, and the flowers were blooming brightly.

The sun was warm and the snow was cold... Wait, what?

Lucy Suzumebachi awoke from her nap with a start. She'd laid down on the porch of her cabin late in the morning, when the sun was shining. When she woke up, or to be more accurate, what _woke_ her up was the snow that was coming down in a right blizzard. Lucy was quickly pulled inside by an older boy named Joe before she got covered in too much snow.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked once all eight of them were gathered together in a cabin.

"A blizzard just showed up out of nowhere," Joe said, looking out the slats on the sliding door.

"That's weird." The storm lasted for a good forty minutes, and blew in nearly six inches of snow. Once it was done, Tai slid the door open, and made his way outside.

"Looks like the canoe races are canceled, so lets have toboggan races instead!" A grin was on his face.

"I'm gonna build the biggest snowman ever," another stepped out after him, and the rest of the children followed suit.

Out and about, the other kids that came to this summer camp were playing in the sudden snowfall. The few exceptions were Lucy, a brainy kid she thought was named Izzy who was messing with his computer, and Joe who was afraid of getting pneumonia.

Before long however, before the first snowball could even be tossed, the sky was filled with a wondrous sea of undulating color.

"Wow, it's so pretty," the youngest kid, TK, said.

"It looks like an aurora," said Sora.

"The Aurora Borealis? That's impossible," Izzy dismissed the girl, Sora's, claim, "We're too far south for that."

"Tell that to the snow," Sora returned.

"Whatever it is, it's so beautiful, magical," said the auburn haired Mimi.

Whatever anyone was going to say next was cut off when a swirling vortex opened up in the sky, barely visible.

Lucy suddenly felt a stirring, deep in her chest, a feeling of... she didn't know what. Just that it felt warm. When eight beams of light suddenly shot out of the vortex, making B-lines for the eight kids, the feeling only grew more intense.

Instead of hitting them, the light's curved to hit the ground just in front of them.

Curious, Lucy leaned over to look at what the little thing was. The light kept up for a moment, obscuring her vision of whatever it was, but that eventually subsided, and something was floating in the air in front of her. When she reached out to grab it, her green eyes fixated on it, the feeling in her chest pulsed.

Holding it in her hand, a smile spread across her face.

"Wow, what is it, Matt?" TK asked his older brother.

Matt, like TK, had blonde hair and blue eyes. He shook his head as he held up his own little beeper, "I don't know, TK."

"My guess is a miniature, remote digital apparatus," Izzy remarked as he held the one that landed in front of him.

"It's... something good," Lucy said, smiling at the one she held, getting a few looked from the other kids.

"No instructions?" Joe asked as the screens of each of the little things lit up, a high pitched noise began coming out of them, and the sound of rushing water filled the air.

"Forget the instructions!" Tai said, seeing water bubble up from beyond the hill side, "Surf's up!"

The water exploded skyward, as the kids all jumped away from it, then it began to split open. Oddly enough, they began to be sucked in. Despite their best efforts, gravity lost it's hold on them in the face of this strange portal.

Matt was trying desperately to reach T.K., Joe was clutching the emergency supply bag he had to his chest, Izzy was clinging onto his computer for dear life, and Mimi was keeping a tight hold on her hat. Tai seemed to be trying to swim back through the air towards the quickly vanishing camp grounds, while Sora had curled up to brace for their inevitable landing.

Lucy was perhaps the most calm. Like the others, she screamed in fear, but something inside, that warm feeling from before, told her that they would be okay. Didn't mean that it wasn't scary though.

The water closed behind them, but they didn't have to hold their breath. The water seemed to not even be there for all that they could feel it, and it soon began to transform into a realm of shifting colors and pulsing light. There was no gravity and nothing to suggest up from down. The swirling colors and flashing lights began to send the children, one by one, into a trance like sleep.

Lucy saw this and tried to close her eyes. The weird place reacted to that and began to emit a white noise sound that began to lull her into sleep. Fighting against it, the last one still awake to do so, Lucy opened her eyes again. The colors were still swirling and the lights were still flashing, but she could finally see something else.

It was a creeping mote of black. It was growing rapidly, clawing at the bright lights, trying to reach the children. The warmth in her chest was replaced by a cold fear, the closer that blackness got to her.

She began to hear a hissing, growling noise. It sounded like a hungry snake, and it only got louder as the black tendrils were nearly there.

_You will not succeed, child!_ It hissed, clawed black hands reaching out for her face, _You will be devoured!_

Lucy screamed.

+-9

"Lucy, Lucy!" something was calling her name as it pulled on her red, sleeveless hoodie. She fought back, believing the blackness had caught her. She heard an exclamation of pain, before another voice tried to reason with her.

"Lucy! Wake up!" it was small, and it sounded worried for her. She felt a weight on her chest and the freezing bite of fear began to drain away to be replaced by the warmth again. It was different though, fuller, like a part that was missing had finally been snapped into place. It felt _right._

Slowly opening one emerald eye, the pink haired girl found herself looking into a large blue eye. It blinked at her before it pulled away, showing that it belonged to a chocolate colored creature with long, thin ears and a big horn on it's forehead.

Any other day, she might have screamed and punted the little thing away, but this was not any other day. After that vision of blackness, she was willing to hold onto anything that could bring more of that warm feeling. And this little thing that looked like a head without a body was making her feel it more than anything else.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" A familiar blonde haired boy asked, though he was rubbing his shin. She realized she probably kicked Matt when she was thought she was still in the blackness.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for hitting you," she apologized meekly as she sat up. The little thing that had been resting on her stomach sank into her lap.

"What were you dreaming about?" he asked.

From beside him another little creature, this one also with a horn on it's head, nodded, "Yeah, you were screaming quite loudly. We thought you were in danger."

Lucy thought back, but already it was slipping away, all except for that black hand, reaching out for her, "I don't know. I think something was reaching for me. It... it was scary."

"I had a nightmare about spiders, and that really scared me, but Matt was there to help me," TK, standing on the other side of Matt and holding a pink little pig thing in his arms, said.

The pink haired girl smiled a little at that. Sometimes she wished she had a big brother. Instead of dwelling on that she focused her attention on the little creature in her lap.

"Wha-" She cut herself off for a moment before going on, "Who are you?"

The blue eyed critter smiled, showing sharp teeth, "I'm Urimon!" It chirped happily, "I'm so glad to finally meet you, Lucy! I've been waiting for so long!"

"Uri... mon?" She tilted her head to one side, trying to figure out what that even meant. As she did so, she looked around the area she'd just woken up in. It was a total jungle! But something was... off too. Not something bad, just... different. It took her a moment to realize that all the colors were strange. Leaves on the tropic trees were blues and yellows and pinks. It was quite beautiful really.

"Yeah, weird, right?" Matt said.

Before Lucy could reply to that, they hear Tai's voice as he shouted in fear and the roars of what sounded like a dinosaur. TK, Matt, Lucy, Tsunomon, Tokomon, and Urimon looked at each other then raced off in that direction to help Tai if he needed it.

Not long after the roars and screams stopped Tokomon began to sniff at the air, before it jumped out of TK's arms and began running through the underbrush, "Hey, wait up Tokomon!" The little boy wearing various shades of green chased after him, smiling.

Having held on to Urimon to kept a grasp on that warmth, made sure to keep a good grip on the little thing as they ran.

Off in the distance they heard voices talking then they heard Tokomon's voice, "Over here, TK."

"Coming," the boy said, running after the little pig thing, prompting Matt to run after him, Lucy not far behind, "Tokomon, there you are!"

"TK!" Matt scolded lightly, holding Tsunomon under one arm.

"You guys shouldn't just run off like that," Lucy said as she came out from behind matt.

"Lucy, Matt! You too?" Tai said, disbelief clear in his voice as he took in the sight of the little creatures in their arms.

"Yeah, we're here too," the blonde said, not catching what Tai meant.

"No," Tai huffed, "I meant those things you're holding."

"Oh, this guy?" Matt turned his eyes down to the little thing he was holding, "Yeah, well..." he trailed off not sure how to explain how he came to be holding a weird little talking head.

"Hello, you appear pleasant," the one Matt was holding said cordially, "Tsunomon is my name, and I am quite pleased to meet you."

"Hey, wow! Humans can get really tall!" Urimon said, her ears twitching and curling in wonder, "I'm Urimon! I want to be that tall someday too!" Lucy smiled at that as she finally let go of Urimon so she could go inspect the other humans.

At the same time, TK was rubbing his face against Tokomon, the two of them giggling at the sensation. Sora, Izzy, and Tai appeared a little wary about the whole thing.

Then everyone heard a scream and saw Joe come running out of the brush.

"Joe?" Tai questioned, wondering if the big beetle had come back.

"Help me!" he cried out, running up to them, "This thing..." he puffed as he came to a stop, "This thing, it wont leave me alone!"

"Hey, who are you calling a thing?" a gray little critter came up from behind Joe and held onto his shoulder. It had an orange tuft of hair and a happy look on its face, just like all the others, "The name is Bukamon." This only got Joe to freak out even more, and Bukamon to laugh.

"Wha?" he looked at Bukamon nervously, then at the other kids were calm, if confused, "Wha? What's wrong with you guys? Don't you see this creature hanging off me? And those creatures standing right there?" Then, realizing what was all standing before him, he leaned back, stiff with fear, "Th-they're everywhere! What are they?"

Bukamon just grinned and flew over to the other critters on the forest floor, "We're," it began, drawing out the word till it landed, then everyone joined in.

"Digimon! Digital Monsters!"

"Digital Monsters!?" Tai said, looking at the seven little things on the ground?

"Yes! Digimon!" the seven digimon said enthusiastically.

Koromon bounced in place as he spoke, "We're not just digital monsters! We're kinda cute!"

"And," Tsunomon continued, "very loyal."

Yokomon, a bright pink digimon with large emerald eyes and a blue flower on top of her head, said, "With beautiful hair."

Motimon, a pink jellyfish looking thing with two arms and round brown eyes, spoke next, "Or sometimes no hair at all!"

"We can be funny!" Bukamon said with a chuckle.

"And," Tokomon said with his ears twitching, "adorable."

"Even more than a little cuddly!" Urimon finished.

Tai grinned and placed a gloved hand on his hip as he said, "It's a pleasure to meet each of you. My names Tai and these are my friends from camp. I'd like you to meet Sora."

Sora smiled politely with her hands behind her back as she said, "Nice place you got here... except for the bugs."

"And the self proclaimed cool one over there is Matt," Tai said teasingly.

Matt played on it though, saying, "No autographs, please."

"And this is Joe," he pointed a thumb at the tallest of their group with blue hair.

"I'd shake your hand," Joe said, obviously feeling less afraid of the digimon now, "if you had any."

"Izzy here is our computer expert."

"Do you have internet access?" the short boy asked with a smile.

"The pink haired girl is Lucy," Tai told them.

"You guys are so cool! Can I take you home with me?" Lucy asked with a wide grin.

"And last but not least, this little guy is, uh," Tai stumbled over the youngest's name.

"TK," the little brother of Matt said, "Call me TK. And I'm not as Small as I look."

"There," Tai said jovially, "is that everybody?"

Sora furrowed her brow, "Hey, what happened to that girl with the funny pink hat?"

"Now, now," Tai said slightly scolding, "her name is Mimi."

Lucy's eyes widened, though no one noticed, and she looked around, hearing that roaring again.

"Perhaps she's picking flowers, or going on a nature hike, or a," Izzy suggested only to be interrupted by Mimi's scream of terror.

"Whaaa! Somebody help me!" That got the whole group's attention.

"Come on!" Tai ordered them, taking the lead, and running towards the girl.

"Okay," Izzy gave up, "So she's not picking flowers."

"Mimi," Tai called out as they entered a clearing, "where are you?"

About then, the girl in question, wearing a light pink cowgirl hat, dark pink old west style dress and brown shoulder bag, came running out from behind a tree, yet another scream on her lips. A little green digimon was just behind her, it had four little legs and a pair of leaves growing out of it's head.

"There she is!" Sora pointed out to Tai, the unofficial leader of the group.

"Mimi, it's okay," he called out to her, thinking she was running away from the little digimon following her. That belief was shattered when Kuwagamon came flying out of the trees, roaring yet again.

"It's that big bug again!" Tai cried out.

"What is with that thing?" Lucy asked.

"That's Kuwagamon," Urimon told her as it stood before her, "He's got a temper bigger than his pincers, which are razor sharp!"

Around this time, Mimi collapsed in relief to her knees after the big beetle thing had flown just over the kids' heads.

"Mimi, are you okay?" The little green digimon asked.

"Think so," the girl breathed out, her hands resting on her thighs.

"Don't worry, Tanemon is here to protect you," the little critter said with confidence.

Sora approached and kneeled beside the pink wearing girl, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder, "It's okay now."

"Oh, Sora," Mimi said thankfully as she looked into the other girls eyes.

Before anything more could be said, Kuwagamon turned around to make a return flight, roaring yet again.

"Watch it, here he comes!"

The giant red beetle dived into the foliage, not that it slowed him at all down with his razor claws simple cutting the trees out of the way, and the children and their digimon turned to run, screams on their lips.

"Down!" Matt called after about fifteen seconds of running, pulling Lucy and TK to the ground with him while the rest of them ducked down on their own. Just in time, too, as the big bug flew just over them, and would have certainly cut them in half if they had dived for cover.

Joe was the first one to get back up among the falling branches of the trees Kuwagamon had torn through, "Will this nightmare never end?" He cringed when a large one fell right next to him, "My mom is gonna want a complete and total refund!" he groaned in relation to the summer camp they were supposed to be attending.

"Here he comes again!" Yokomon notified them, just as the beetle was making his return flight.

Tai hopped to his feet with a scowl on his face and his hands clenched into fists, "Okay, that does it, no more running away!"

Sora, who was helping Mimi to her feet, looked at him significantly, "What else can we do?"

"She's right!" Matt agreed, "There's no way we can fight that thing!"

"Not without a giant can of Raid," Lucy nodded.

"Not and win, anyway," Izzy ascented as the beetle was getting closer.

With their options limited to run or die, the kids chose to run for the hills. Unfortunately, not knowing the layout of the place they were in, they soon came to a cliff over looking a river hundreds of feet below. The group skidded to a halt, Tai at the front, horror on all their faces.

"Great," Matt fussed, "Anybody bring a helicopter?" he asked sarcastically.

Not willing to give up just yet, Tai moved towards the edge of the cliff.

"Be careful, Tai," Sora called after him.

Tai hung his head, and frowned before turning to the others, "There's no way down. We're going to have to find another way."

"Another way where?" the helmet wearing girl asked legitimately, just as the trees began to shake with Kuwagamon's approach.

The other kids dived out of the way just in time, and Tai ducked just under its pincers. Its angry roar filled the air as it gained altitude to dive at the group again. Sora was the first to notice as it was making the U-turn and called out to the goggle wearing preteen.

"Watch out!"

Tai got up to run back to the group at the same time as Koromon hopped forward to try and protect him.

"Here I go!" the little pink thing shouted, then spit out a bubble gum pink bubble at the giant bug. Kuwagamon hesitated for a moment from the hit, then roared and bounced Koromon off of its head.

"Not again!" Tai said, seeing the little guy get hurt.

With Tai behind him now, Kuwagamon made to attack the group of children, but their digimon wouldn't have it.

"Digimon attack!" Yokomon commanded, and all the rest of them jumped forward, spitting out pink bubbles of their own. The impacts of those seven bubbles were enough to cause Kuwagamon crash to the ground in the trees behind and to the left of the group, but not before he smashed the little digimon to he ground first.

"Yokomon!" Sora cried out in distress as she dived to the ground under Kuwagamon's attack yet again, then repeated her call as she got back up, "Yokomon!"

But the little flower topped digimon didn't move. None of them did. Tai was already there, pinking up his partner from the ground.

"Koromon," he said with a bit of anxiety, "Are you crazy? Why'd you do it?" he held the little critter gently to keep from hurting him further.

Koromon struggled to open his eyes, a sad look on his adorable face from his failure, "Sorry, it's just... I'm trying to make a good impression."

"Crazy guy," Tai said, the raw emotion in his voice.

The others ran up to their own partners, gently lifting them off the ground.

Lucy actually had tears in the corner of her eyes, though she wasn't entirely sure why, "Urimon, please wake up!" all she got back was a groan of pain.

"Oh," Sora sighed softly as she picked her partner up," Yokomon..."

"Tanemon," Mimi said quietly, "Talk to me."

"They must be programmed for courage..." Izzy said, more emotion in his voice than any other time he spoke before.

"Tokomon, what's wrong?" TK asked anxiously.

"Tsunomon, wake up!" Matt tried to demand.

"Bukamon?" Joe prodded, "Wake up."

Unfortunately, Kuwagamon was down, but not out. With another roar of anger, the giant red beetle digimon burst out of the trees, its pincers snapping angrily.

"Oh, no!" Joe cried out.

Mimi and the other kids screamed in fear while Sora shouted, "Run!" Leading them towards Tai's position, "I was hoping we'd seen the last of him!"

"Me too," Tai said, staring in horror at the bug, "Guess he had other plans, huh?"

"Ugh! I knew I should have brought my bug spray," Matt grumbled.

Kuwagamon stepped forward, another roar in its insectoid throat, each step causing the ground to rumble with its weight.

"Okay," Tai said, seeing only one way out of this, "get ready to run."

"No!" Koromon said, becoming more lively, "We fight!"

"Huh?" Tai articulated.

"That's right, it's the only way!" Koromon insisted, "Stand and fight!"

"Give it up, will ya?" Tai said, trying to get the little guy to stop endangering himself.

"No, Koromon's right! It's time that we showed what we're made of!" Motimon said as he regained consciousness, trying to wiggle out of Izzy's grasp.

"No, don't!" Izzy said, keeping his grasp.

"They're right," Yokomon said from Sora's grasp, turning to face the bug digimon.

"No way, it's hopeless. You're no match for him, Yokomon!" Kuwagamon was getting closer even as they spoke.

"We can do it!" Tsunomon insisted as he began fighting against Matt's grasp, "Letmegoletmegoletmegoletmego !"

"Yes!" Tokomon agreed, also struggling now, "Let me go! Let me go!"

"Lemme go lemme go!" Bukamon was doing his level best to escape Joe and join the fight.

Mimi and Lucy were the most understanding.

"Tanemon? You too?" Mimi asked, hoping the little plant digimon would say no.

"Uh-huh," she said instead.

"Urimon," Lucy said, wiping the corner of one eye to brush away the tears, "Please be careful."

"I'll protect you, Lucy!" Urimon insisted.

"I'm sorry, Tai," Koromon said as he finally wrestled out of the boy's grip, then called to the other digimon, "Let's go!"

The others, with a burst of strength, broke away from the kids holding them and began a determined hopping march towards Kuwagamon, determined to protect their partners with everything they had.

"Come on, Digimon!" Koromon made a final rallying call as they jumped up at Kuwagamon.

"It's useless," Sora cried out, "Yokomon!"

Izzy likewise was distressed, "Don't go, Motimon!"

"No, wait," Matt called, "Don't do it, Tsunomon!"

"Don't go!" TK called as Tokomon opened it's adorable little mouth freakishly wide to show a mouth full of shark like teeth.

"Urimon!" Lucy called, holding her fists at her side, "Don't get hurt!"

"Turn around!" Joe called, "Come back, Bukamon!"

"Tanemon..." Mimi said with her hands clasped in front of her chest, "Be careful!"

"Nooo!" Tai shouted, chasing after his own partner, "Don't, Koromon! Come back!"

Unseen by all, the little devices they had picked up back at camp began to glow brightly.

A dark vortex began to swirl about in the sky above, and eight beams of bright light came down out of it, striking each of the little digimon about to attack Kuwagamon. The children gasped in shock as they watched their new friends change before their very eyes.

"Koromon, Digivolve to... Agumon!" the little guy went from being pink and round to being a yellow dinosaur with bright green eyes and three claws on each hand. His voice deepened and he now came up to Tai's Chest.

"Yokomon, Digivolve to... Biyomon!" Yokomon grew as well, turning into a large pink bird with red claws at the ends of it's wings. The blue flower on it's head disappeared, and blue striped were on the ends of the feathers on it's head and tail feathers. It had a curly feather coming out of the top of his forehead that was striped blue and pink, and she had a metal cuff on her left ankle.

"Motimon, Digivolve too... Tentomon!" the little jellyfish creature grew into a large red beetle, though nowhere near the size of Kuwagamon. He had little grey horns on his carapace, big green compound eyes, and two sets of arms, the fore most set ending in grey claws, and the smaller set having little finger like digits.

"Tsunomon, Digivolve to... Gabumon!" Tsunomon became a creature about the same size as Agumon, of a lighter yellow color, with a big blue spot on his belly with purple markings in it. His tail was also longer, he had a golden horn coming out of his forehead, and he was wearing a blue and lavender striped fur over his head, back, and arms. The fur on his arm ended in three red claws to each hand, making it look like he was growing them out of his knuckles.

"Tokomon, Digivolve to... Patamon!" Tokomon didn't change as drastically as the others, only growing a bit bigger, and retaining his general shape, but he was now mostly tan in color, had bright blue eyes, and his ears now doubled as wings.

"Urimon, Digivolve to... Skymomon!" Where as Urimon looked like a chocolate Koromon with a horn on it's nose, Skymomon looked nothing like Agumon. Instead, she had turned into a blue monkey wearing a brown bandanna around her forehead, a long tail with a white tip, and big green wings. The fur coming out of the top of her head looked like pretty green and blue braids. Her eyes retained their blue coloration.

"Bukamon, Digivolve to... Gomamon!" Bukamon's orange tuft of hair turned into a mohawk. His flippers grew outwards, and grew three black claws each and two more flippers came out of his sides in the back, also clawed. Then his body turned with with purple markings, and his eyes became light yellow.

"Tanemon, Digivolve to... Palmon!" Tanemon retained her green coloration, but grew much taller. She had two arms, ending in long green claws, and legs that looked like roots. A tail grew out of the base of her spine, and a pink flower was now growing out of her head instead of just a couple of leaves. Over all she looked like a living plant.

Like usual, Kuwagamon's response was to roar angrily, while the children marveled at the changes to their new friends.

"What in the...?" Sora breathed, "Look at them! What's happened to the little guys?"

"They're... bigger!" Tai said needlessly.

With more battle cries, the new forms of the digimon attacked Kuwagamon. But even with all eight of them, in their new forms, nothing had changed. He just swatted them away.

But that wasn't enough to put them down this time. All eight of them got right back up, ready to keep going.

"Alright then, you asked for it," Agumon said, with a frown on his yellow face.

In response, the big beetle began to beet his wings to take off into the air again, but Palmon interfered with that plan.

"_Poison Ivy_!" the three long claws on each of her hands grew out like vines, turning purple as they did so, and wrapped around Kuwagamon's legs and kept him close to the ground.

Patamon and Tentomon flew up on the beetle's sides, flanking it as they fired off their own attacks.

"_Boom Bubble_!" Patamon inflated for a moment then released a bubble of condensed air that forced Kuwagamon's head down.

"_Super Shocker_!" Red and white electricity arched off of Tentomon's wings and staggered the bug. Gomamon took that opening to slide forward and knock it's left leg out from under it as it roared in pain.

"Step back everyone!" Agumon warned as he and Gabumon stepped up, "_Pepper Breath_!" A fireball flew out of his mouth and exploded on the bug.

"_Blue Blaster_!" Gabumon intoned as a stream of blue flame flew out of his mouth.

"_Spiral Twister_!" Biyomon was in the air directly in front of Kuwagamon, side by side with Urimon. Spiraling green flames shot out of her beak.

"_Whirlwind Punch_!" Urimon called as green energy swirled around her right fist as she punched out sending it at the big beetle.

The four attacks hit, one after the other, and began to set fire to Kuwagamon's outer shell. He threw his head up, roaring louder than ever, causing the flames to go out.

"Now!" Agumon said, "All together!"

The six of them with energy attack prepared them, then released, all at the same time, hitting Kuwagamon on the chest, setting him determinedly on fire yet again. This time causing the giant angry bug to fall backward into the jungle.

"Wow," Tai breathed, as all the kids stood there, mouths agape with shock.

"They made vaporware out of him..." Izzy intoned with a computer reference.

"Amazing!" Tai said as the digimon ran back towards their partners with pride on their faces.

"Told you we could do it!" Agumon crowed.

A smile worked its way across Tai's face as he ran forward to meet his digimon, "Koromon!...Or Agumon or whoever you are, you did it, you did it, you did it!" He pulled the yellow dinosaur into a hug.

The other kids let their digimon come to them. The others all greeted their digimon with hugs of their own. Their relief was palpable and the giggles of Mimi, Sora, TK, and Lucy was tinged heavily with it.

"How about that Super Shocker?" Tentomon asked as he hovered before Izzy, "Pretty wizard, huh?" Izzy just gave him a thumbs up and a big smile.

But the victory celebration was short lived as Kuwagamon showed it's devastating level of survivability. It popped back up, angrier than ever.

Sora gasped in fright, "Watch out!" she shouted to Agumon and Tai, the two closest to the monster bug.

The two of them were just barely able to dodge out of the way as the giant beetle slammed its razor sharp pincers into the ground right where they used to be.

"Guess we celebrated too soon," Tai quipped.

Before the battle could begin anew, cracks began forming in the ground, moving outwards from Kuwagamon's claws, and the outcropping they stood on began to shake. The children could do nothing but scream as the large chunk of rock broke loose, and dumped them hundreds of feet through the air into the water below.

Chapter one: End.

Please Enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2 Birth of Greymon

I didn't really say this anywhere in the first chapter, but I honestly don't plan on changing too much from the show. I'm not planning on making the evolved forms of Skymomon super uber powerful and Lucy is not taking the place of Tai or Matt or anyone else. Definitely not replacing Kari. I've come up with an Original Crest for the girl to have. I'm not making her into a staple character, and she's not going to interfere with the major plot points. I'm going to add a few chapters dedicated solely to her, but that just like what happens in the show, where the kids and their digimon will have an episode devoted to them.

Chapter Two: The Birth of Greymon

Lucy was always fond of those dreams she had where she was falling. They would start out normally for her. She'd just be walking to somewhere unimportant, maybe the park, or out into the school courtyard for recess. Right in the middle of her journey to where ever, the ground would disintegrate under her feet and she'd begin a slow descent.

The fall would always start out in darkness, sending her through a void of black space. But as her speed picked up she'd see a mote of light somewhere down beneath her. She would always angle herself towards that light and do her best to fall faster. The light would get closer and closer, growing larger and larger, chasing away the darkness.

Unfortunately Lucy would always wake up before she could reach that light. But she knew that, if she ever reached it, it would be something great.

That's why she always liked those falling dreams. Maybe she never reached the light, but someday she would.

Falling from a cliff outcropping towards rushing water hundreds of feet below was nowhere near the same experience. It was far, far more terrifying.

Skymomon, about double the size of a rhesus monkey, was doing her desperate best to slow Lucy's fall speed, but Lucy was too large and Skymomon too small for it to have much effect.

Tentomon, Biyomon and Patamon had pretty much the same idea, grabbing on to Izzy, Sora and TK respectively, but they were facing the same problem of Skymomon. Their charges were just too big to keep in flight. Their wings gave out, and the four children resumed falling.

Palmon tried a different trick to save herself and Mimi. She lashed out with her Poison Ivy attack, wrapping three vines around Mimi and the other three around another outcropping. It was not to be. The rock the plant digimon latched onto came loose, creating even more falling debris for the children to have to dodge mid fall.

The screams of the eight children and their digimon filled the air. It seemed as if, even with the best efforts of their new friends, they were going to die.

Of the group, Joe was the first to hit the water, followed quickly by his partner, Gomamon. Joe began to kick about, grunting and crying out for help, when Gomamon had a brilliant idea that would save them all.

"_Fish Bed_!" The seal digimon cried out. Perhaps not so surprising, given the special powers of the other digimon, this brought forth a thick school of multicolored fish. They bubbled up from the water underneath Gomamon, spreading outward to lift Joe out of the water as well. The school kept growing as the children and their digimon fell one by one onto the surprisingly soft bed.

"Wow, this is some ride," Tai commented as he could feel the fish wiggling beneath him.

"Whoa," Lucy marveled as she landed, Skymomon holding onto her back like a living backpack, "Wicked beans, Gomamon!"

But was not yet well.

Above them they heard an increasingly familiar roar. Turning their eyes skyward would show them Kuwagamon standing at the edge of the remainder of the cliff. He looked to be about to take off and chase the kids further when the rock beneath him broke apart and he too began to fall into the river.

"What?" Matt spoke incredulously as he saw the monster, "Hey, look out!" he warned the others, prompting screams of fear.

Gomamon didn't waste a single moment, "Go!"

At his order, the school of fish quickly swam away from the landing zone, just in time to miss being smashed by huge rocks and a still angry Kuwagamon. The crashing bug digimon and rocks caused a huge wave, however, and the children had to hold on for dear life to avoid being tossed from their living raft. Luckily, the fish were capable swimmers, and rode on the crest of the wave to get away even more quickly from the spot Kuwagamon had landed.

A few minutes later, the children and digimon had left their living raft behind to put their feet on the solid ground next to the river. After so much action, not a single one of them wasn't out of breath. Joe's glasses were even askew as he sat there on hands and knees, desperately taking in the much needed oxygen.

After a few deep breaths, and more than a few sighs of relief, Matt sat down more normally, one knee bent skyward, and said, "I knew we'd be okay," false bravado tinting his voice, "I wasn't worried."

"What was that?" Joe asked, "A floating fish market?"

"Lucky for us those fish were having a school reunion, huhuh!" Gomamon said with a chuckle.

"Hmm?" That had the oldest boys eyes widening in fright at the danger they had been in.

"Hee hee," Gomamon laughed, "I'm kidding! Those fish are good friends of mine, and I just asked them for a lift."

The blue haired thirteen year old let go of a breath as he sat up, fixing his glasses back into their normal position, baring a thankful smile to Gomamon, "And all these years I thought I was allergic to seafood. Thank you, um," Joe blinked, scratching the side of his head, "I guess it's not Bukamon?"

"Gomamon now," the friendly little critter told the older boy with a smile on his face.

"Gomamon, hmm?"

"And I guess you're not Tokomon, are you?" TK asked as he inspected with wing eared, tan creature his new friend had become.

"Mm-mm," the creature acknowledged, "Now I'm Patamon."

"It's all because we Digivolved."

This prompted Tai to look over at the yellow dinosaur he'd hugged earlier for saving his life from Kuwagamon. He stood up, thinking over that word.

"I don't think that word's in my dictionary," he commented.

Izzy decided to make not of his observations so far, Tentomon hovering in the air behind him, "So 'Digivolving' is what happens when they advance to the next level and become more powerful than before."

"That's right!" Tentomon said, "All of us Digivolve. I went from Motimon to Tentomon."

"So, you were Urimon," Lucy said to the blue monkey on her back. The creature nodded.

"I turned into Skymomon," she said with a grin.

Standing next to Sora, the pink bird digimon said, "I Digivolved from Yokomon to Biyomon."

"First, I was Tsunomon, then Gabumon," the fur covered creature next to Matt said.

Gesturing to herself, the living plant next to the still crouching Mimi said, "And I changed from Tanemon to Palmon."

"And me? I was Koromon," the yellow dino pointed at himself with one claw, "Now I'm Agumon."

"Mmm-hm," Tai nodded, placing his arms behind his head as he gave Agumon a once over to really take in all the changes, "When you Digivolved you certainly got way bigger. Does this mean you're something different now? Or are you still digimon?"

"Digimon," Agumon said proudly, "But I needed your help, Tai!"

"Me? For what?"

"You see, Digivolving is a very difficult process," the dinosaur explained, "In order to be successful, I had to share your energy." This had captured all the kids attentions, all of them eager to learn more about their new friends.

"Really?" Tai asked.

"I guess you guys don't run on batteries," Sora commented as she leaned down to look at Biyomon.

"Sure don't!" Biyomon said with her eyes curved upward in a smile.

Izzy turned to Tentomon, a good question on his lips, "But how do you access my energy?"

Tentomon shrugged, "Even we don't know everything." Izzy sighed at that response, resolving to do more research on the matter.

Palmon spun in place, an overjoyed squeal in her throat, then turned to Mimi, "Thank you for my magical powers!"

Mimi sighed, her cheek resting her hand as she crouched down next to the plant digimon with the emerald eyes, "The whole thing makes my head spinny."

Pulling Skymomon from her back, Lucy looked at the blue monkey with green wings and a pink and red flower in her braids, "Can you Digivolve even more?"

Skymomon nodded happily, her tail curling, "Yep! And into all different kinds of forms too!"

TK was walking around Patamon about this time, "So I help you change. That is so cool!"

"Yep," Patamon said with a smile, "Sure is!"

Joe had turned from Gomamon though, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, "My folks warned me about strangers."

"I'm not a stranger, Joe. I'm your friend for life," Gomamon said, a touch hurt at the rejection.

"Hmm," Joe intoned noncommittaly.

"This is all great, but, come on, what are we gonna do?" Matt cut to the important matter, namely, how they were to survive in this weird place.

"If only there was a payphone nearby," Joe suggested, getting everyone to look at him, "We could call the police, or the fire department... or my mother."

"But we don't even know where we are," Tai pointed out.

"But we know where we started," Sora said, looking up at something behind the group, "Up there on that mountain." Indeed, the mountain that they had first woken up on was behind them, looming in the distance like a beacon.

Matt took one look at the monstrous climb they'd have to do, and shook his head, "I say we forget about going back and explore around here."

"I'm not exploring anywhere," Joe insisted, crossing his arms again, "I say we stay right where we are."

"Yeah, let's wait for that giant bug to come get us," Matt poked a hole in Joe's plan before going on with his own, "We need to find a road to get us away from here!"

Izzy nodded to Matt's plan, seeing no fault in his logic, "Matt's right," he said, before looking to the sky with a heavy sigh, "But without a compass we don't even know which way is north."

"Wait, I do!" Tentomon piped in.

"Well, which way is it?" Izzy snapped his head in the direction of the red beetle digimon.

"It's the opposite of south." Izzy just sighed again in exasperation.

Lucy looked around them, letting Skymomon hang off her back again, "Maybe we can use the trees to figure out where we are. You know, using that moss trick?"

"I don't think so," the tech genius replied, "I haven't seen a single scrap of moss on the trees here, and I believe the environment is too tropical for the kind you're thinking of."

"Oh," Lucy sighed.

Joe realized what it was going to come to and grumbled lowly to himself, "I shouldn't wear these pants. They ride up when I do a lot of walking."

"You know," Sora began, "If we could get back to where we were, we might find some clues as to why we're here in this place."

Mimi looked at Sora, a frightful realization coming to her, "Wait. Are there more monster around like that big flying beetle?"

"Yes, indeedy!" Palmon answered with a grin.

"Ick!" the poor pampered girl grimaced.

"Those monsters don't scare me," Matt said, trying to lift the girl's spirit.

Tai however turned to Agumon, "Are there humans?"

"Humans?" the dinosaur asked, "Others like you?"

"Mm-hm," the goggle wearing boy nodded, a hopeful smile on his face.

"You're the first ever," his hopes were dashed, "There's never been anything but digimon."

"So, you're all digimon," Tai said after a moment of thought, "And these monsters are all digimon too?"

"It's creepy, and dangerous," Sora said, still standing next to the crouching Mimi, "And what happens when it gets dark?"

"Who says it ever gets dark here?" Matt asked, earning a look from Izzy.

"That phenomenon would be unnatural," the intelligent boy said with his arms crossed.

"And you call this natural?" Joe asked.

Lucy looked from Joe and Izzy to the digimon all around them, "Maybe. The digimon could just be indigenous to this place, you know. Like gorillas in Africa," she turned to look at Skymomon over her shoulder, "Do you know about any other places, where anything other than digimon grow, Skymomon?"

"Mm-mm," she shook her head, "I never really thought about it."

Tai turned around to face the entire group, "Well, we're not gonna find out anything by sitting around here." He turned and began a determined, energetic walk.

"Where do you think you're going?" Matt demanded to know.

"Up on that cliff, that's where I saw the ocean," Tai explained.

"The ocean?" Matt all but yelped, knowing for sure that the last time he checked they were nowhere near the ocean. But that _was_ back at camp.

"Yep!" Tai said with a grin, "There might be a boat or something," he then made a gesture for the others to follow him down to the beach he knew was there, walking on with Agumon right behind him.

"Great," Matt said sarcastically, "Let's water ski home."

Sora just shook her head, "Funny."

Joe was also not convinced, "At a time like this I think it would be a far better plan just to find a cave and hide," he said with his eyes closed as he visualized his plan, "We keep our eyes open, and when a camp councilor com-"

"Hey, Joe!"

"Hmm?" the blue haired boy opened his eyes, to see that the others were walking off without even listening.

"Everyone's leaving us!" Gomamon told him before turning to follow the others.

"Wait for me!" The tallest boy called out.

It wasn't long for the walking before Gomamon decided to simply swim in the river they were following. It didn't take a genius, after all, to know that rivers led to the ocean.

Honestly, they made quite the motley crew. Eight kids, eight weird little creatures, all following a river to the ocean in the middle of a tropical forest under a multicolored sky. Thinking about it all, Lucy really didn't mind. Other than the whole running for her life bit, this was turning out to be a cool little adventure. And that warm feeling in her chest was persisting, despite everything.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Sora decided to speak up.

"These Trees are beautiful," she mentioned.

"Yeah," Izzy said, "They're really different. And I just thought they were sub-tropical." He looked around at the huge trees, the wildly growing vines, and the massive flowers that made up the landscape.

Joe was still nervous, as witnessed by the tight hold he had on the strap of the emergency supply bag, "Whatever the are," Joe sniffed, his voice becoming nasally, "they're aggravating my hay fever."

Matt just sighed as he walk along beside Gabumon, his hands in his pockets, "Hey, Joe, is there anything you _don't_ complain about?" his partner chuckled at that little barb.

"Digital Monsters," Izzy pondered aloud, "Who, exactly, came up with that name, anyway?"

"Just call us Digimon," Tentomon told him as he hovered alongside the red headed boy, "We like that."

"I only ask because your composition isn't at all machine-like," Izzy pointed out.

"Oh, really?" Tentomon leaned forward in his flight and activated the electricity that he generated between his wings.

Izzy flinched away from the red-white current arching between the insectoid's wings, "Hey! Watch it!"

"So, Patamon, can you really fly?" TK asked the tan, blue eyed digimon next to him.

"Of course!" The little guy said and leapt into the air, beating his wings determinedly. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as good at it as Tentomon, Barely staying in the air as it was.

"Wow, that's cool!" TK praised him, "But you're going the wrong way." The poor little guy was losing ground as he kicked his little legs futilely trying to stay up.

Biyomon leapt into the air as well, "I'm faster than that, watch!" Unfortunately for her, she could gain anymore speed than Patamon, the two of them maintaining a pace that had them being left behind by the children as they walked.

"Wouldn't be faster to walk?" Sora asked as she kept a steady pace next to the youngest of the group.

Lucy was just humming to herself as she looked at the sky, "What's it like up there, Skymomon?"

"Up where?" the monkey asked as she hopped from branch to branch in the trees.

"In the sky," Lucy turned to look at her partner, "is it really cool?"

Skymomon grinned wide, "Yeah, it's like you drop all your worries behind and just float on the wind."

The pink haired girl looked back up at the sky again, "Hmm? I hope I can do that someday."

Mimi, up ahead, turned to her flower headed digimon, "Palmon, I've been meaning to ask, who does your hair?"

"It's natural. I wake up in the morning like this," the plan digimon told her partner.

"Wow! Maybe you could let me work with it," Mimi clasped her hands in front of her chest, a smile on her face.

"Do you think you think you put too much emphasis on appearance?" Palmon asked, looking up at the light brown haired girl.

"Well, honestly, I never really thought about it," Mimi admitted.

Looking away from the girl, a slight redness on her face, Palmon said, "Honestly, I kind of like my hair the way it is."

At the lead of the group, Tai began to speak his thoughts aloud, "Once I get back, this is gonna make a great story," he nodded to himself, while Agumon grinned at him, "Of course, not a single soul will ever believe me."

"That Kuwagamon back there," Izzy mumbled, "He was huge."

"And he's not the only one," Tentomon said helpfully.

Gabumon stopped and sniffed the air, "Ah, nothing like the smell of the ocean."

"Ha ha!" Gomamon called out, "Everybody in the water!"

"Let's build a giant sand castle!" TK exclaimed.

"Aw, and I forgot to bring my bathing suit," Mimi complained.

"Race you there, Skymomon," Lucy said getting ready to run off.

"Wait a minute!" Matt called out, getting them all to stop, "Listen!" Everyone quieted down for a moment and they heard a very distinct ringing, "What's that?"

"A phone," Tai said after listening to it for a second.

"Either that or we're all hearing things," Sora said with a dubious look on her face.

Deciding to risk it, the kids ran towards the sound of the ringing, which, consequently, took them right out to the beach.

There, they found about ten phone booths, all line up, right at the water's edge. The one closest to the group was ringing insistently.

"I told you!" Joe yelled out from the back of the group, "All we needed was a phone! We're saved!"

They all raced forward, Tai, the most physically fit, was at the front of the group, and he was able to reach the door and open it. Just in time for the ringing to stop.

"Why'd it stop ringing, Tai?" Agumon asked, Looking from the green payphone to the wild haired boy.

"Wrong number?" the boy guessed as the others came to a stop behind him. He turned around to look at the others, wondering what they thought about it.

"Well, that's bizarre," Sora said, a hand on her hips and she looked at all the payphones in the sand.

"My theory is aliens," Izzy said, "They could have set these phone booths out as a trap."

"If we can find a place that delivers, let's order pizza," Matt said.

"Whatever you get, no anchovies for me," Mimi told him.

"The question is," Sora said insistently staying on topic, "What are these doing on the beach?" It was not an unreasonable question.

"So people can call their parents for a ride home," Joe explained, though he wasn't quite sure he believed it himself.

"Parents?" Gomamon questioned, drawing the eyes of the children, "What exactly is a 'Parents'?"

Joe looked at the little digital seal monster before saying, voice full of exasperation, "That's it, I'm outta here."

Standing at the first booth still, Tai held out his hand to the other kids in the group, "Does anybody have any loose change?"

"Why?" Izzy asked.

"Obviously I'm gonna make a phone call to get some help," he explained.

Lucy searched through her pockets for change, but Izzy was quicker, "Ah, use my phone card. The aliens can bill me. Here!" he held out the card to Tai, who took it.

"Maybe there's a quarter in one of the slots!" TK surmised before running towards one of the booths.

"I'm calling daddy!" Mimi exclaimed, right behind him.

"I'm hooking up to the internet," Izzy said matter of factly.

"I'm calling collect," Matt said as he walked by.

"Dibs on booth Four," Sora called out with a smile. Tai was beginning to enter a number as they passed.

"Hey, guys! Wait for me, come on!" Joe walked up to one of the booths.

"Aren't you gonna try to call for help, Lucy?" Skymomon asked.

"Well..." The little pink haired girl looked at the phone booths apprehensively, then looked back at the weird sky they were under, "Didn't you tell me we were in the Digiworld? I don't know if a phone call can cross _that_ distance. I mean, I've heard of international, but interplanetary?"

Just then, Tai finished dialing his home phone number.

The phone on the other end rang once before someone picked it up, "Hello? Hey mom it's me."

What he got back from the receiver was a nasally woman's voice, "At the tone, the time will be exactly forty five miles an hour, and ninety seconds."

"Something's wrong, or mom's flipped," Tai stated.

With Mimi and Palmon, their receiver said, "Tomorrow's forecast calls for clear skies with occasional icecream."

"What do you wear for that?" Mimi asked, completely confused.

"This number only exists in your imagination, please hang up and don't call back," the voice coming from Matt's phone said jovially while TK stood nearby.

"What planet did I dial?" The blond boy in the green tank top wondered.

"I'm telling you," Izzy said as he looked at the phone in his hand, "It's a twisted, alien joke."

Tentomon unfurled his wings from beneath his carapace and took flight while pointing at another booth down the line, "Why don't you try that one over there?"

Biyomon shook her head, "I don't think it's any better."

An extremely cheerful voice said to Sora, "No telephones are working in your area! Hang up and have a nice day?" Sora frowned and she was tempted to slam the phone back into its cradle.

"Huh!" She grunted as she crossed her arms.

"Any luck?" Tai asked as he approached.

"No," she grumped.

"Weird," Tai said, lifting on eyebrow, "I've got a strange feeling about this."

A little while later, the only one still trying to get the phones to work was Joe. The others had all gathered a small distance away, while he kept dialing number after number.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself, "Maybe this one."

"If you'd like to leave a message, press one now," Joe's shoulder's slumped at that, "If you'd like to leave a finger print, press two now. Fifteen dollars for the next three minutes." But he still wasn't willing to give up. He pressed down on the button in the cradle to hang up, then tried the next number.

"Kay, next one!"

About twenty feet away, some of the kids just sat back and watched as the blue haired boy went at it.

"Very curious," Izzy spoke, "Does Joe always behave like this?"

"Every single day," Tai nodded from his place on the ground with his legs cross in front of him.

"No matter what number, or how many times he dials, those phones aren't gonna work," Matt said with a shake of his head at the poor delusional boy.

"Well," Tai said, getting back up and dusting off his back side, "I'm gonna keep searching for a boat or something." Before he could get anywhere, Matt's voice stopped him.

"Hey, wait a minute! Even though we can't call out of here, there's always a chance someone might be able to call in to us," he explained rationally.

Tai just shook his head, "It's a waste of time doing nothing but sitting here."

Matt ignored that though, "I'm gonna stay here for a little while and see if anyone calls. Besides, Everyone could use a little rest."

That got through to Tai. He really was the most physically fit of the group, with Matt being a close second. All the running and walking they'd done that day had hardly phased him. But the others?

Mimi, TK, even Lucy, and all their digimon, were wiped out. They were actually groaning with the effort it took to stay sitting up at this point.

"And I'm getting pretty hungry, too," Izzy decided to stack on.

"You know why?" Tai said, "Because we haven't eaten anything all day," he turned back to the rest of the group and said with a grin, "Okay, break time, everybody!"

Sora sighed in relief from her place in the sand next to Biyomon.

"Does anybody else have any food? I think all I've got is," she reached for the nap sack at her waist then paused as she felt something that wasn't there before, "Huh? It's that gadget that fell out of the sky at camp." She unhooked it from her pink belt and held it before her.

Tai unclipped his from the side of his shorts and held it up, "I forgot all about those weird gizmos."

"If anyone's got a pink one, I'll trade," Mimi said as she looked at the one on the strap of the brown leather bag she was carrying.

"What are they anyway?" TK wondered.

"We wouldn't have them if they weren't important," Matt decided.

Holding hers before her, Lucy inspected it, pressing the buttons, but getting nothing to happen, "I think mine has dead batteries."

"If I could take min apart..." Izzy began, but trailed off when his stomach growled for sustenance, "Um, that is, after I get something to eat. I'm really famished."

Sora nodded, putting her device back on her belt then reaching into her nap sack, "Well, all I've got are my emergency supplies. It's got a first aid kit, some bandages and some medicine, but that's about all I've got." she held out the afore mentioned supplies in her hands.

Izzy set down his travel bag and unfolded his computer, "I have my trusty lap top computer and a digital camera. Oh, and I've also got a small cell phone too." Tai crouched down to take a look as Izzy went on, "Of course, not one of them has worked since we got here."

"I can't believe you dragged all that computer stuff to summer camp," Tai told him.

Izzy gave a very light frown, "And what do you have?"

"Uh?" he pointed at himself with his thumb questioningly, "Let's see," he reached into his back pocket, "There's... my mini telescope!" He held it out before him.

"Sorry," Matt said, gloved hands in his pockets, "but I don't have anything to eat either."

"Hey!" TK said to his big brother, "Look at what I got!"

"Hmm?" Matt turned to the little guy. Lucy too peered at him inquisitively.

"Check it out," TK pulled the green pack off his shoulders and set it down before opening the flap to show junk food and candy boxes. Lucy was practically drooling as she looked into the pack with big puppy dog eyes, a finger in her mouth.

"Wow! Look at all those goodies!" Mimi exclaimed, "Why don't you be a good little boy and share those treats with dear, sweet Mimi?"

TK just grinned, "Aw, you don't have to be so nice, Mimi, I'm happy to share, you're the best. Isn't she cute?" He turned to his older brother.

"Forget it," Matt said, not really appreciating his little brothers attempt to set him up with a girlfriend again.

TK saw Lucy's reaction and grinned wider, "You can have some too, Lucy!"

"You rock, TK," the ten year old said, "All I brought was pocket lint."

Tai's stomach rumbled again and he said, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"I'd settle for a small cow," Izzy said from beside him.

"Mimi, what have you got in that big bag?" Sora asked the other girl, "Some hair brushes and make up?" she joked.

"Uh, well, let's take a look," She opened the flap on her bag and began setting out item after item that had the groups mouths hanging open, "Here's a compass, cooking fuel, flashlight, one of those knives with all the things, and some other stuff."

The group, digimon included, let out a collective, "Whoa."

"Why didn't you tell us you had a compass back when we needed one?" Matt asked a little indignantly.

Mimi just smiled, "I thought it'd be kinda fun to see how far we can get without one. Besides, it's broken."

Tai was still looking at all the stuff she'd pulled out of her bag, "Well, so much for our way out of here."

"Although," Matt said, "We could use the fuel to make a signal fire."

"That's true," Sora agreed, but sent a glare at the faulty equipment across the way, "Or we could barbecue some telephones."

Looking over his shoulder, Tai grinned at the irony, "Oh boy, check out the genius. See, he's trying to call the telephone repairman because the telephones don't work. Problem is- Look!" Tai cut himself off once he saw what Joe was carrying, "Joe's got the emergency food!"

"Huh?"

"What? No way!" Izzy said despite his hope that it was true.

"Joe! Hey, Joe, look! You've got all the food!" Tai called over to the oldest one of the bunch.

Joe whipped around with a frown, "Hey! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're on the telephone!?"

"But that bag-" Izzy began.

"This?" Joe asked, "I just brought it to give to Mimi. Today was her day to carry the bag!"

"Think he likes ya," Palmon said to the girl with pink hat.

"No way," Mimi brushed away that claim with a half lidded gaze.

Joe pulled the strap of the bag off his shoulder, and ran over, holding it before him for Mimi to take, "Mimi, you have got to stop thinking of your self and do something for someone else for once. Take a little responsibility," Joe scolded.

"But that bag's too heavy for me," she complained.

"Listen, you never hear me complaining," Joe told her.

"Guys," Tai rushed forward to stop the argument, "guys, the most important thing now is that we have some food to eat," he grinned, "so let's sit down and have some lunch."

Sora agreed with a grin and a nod of her head, "Uh-huh!"

A few minutes later, while everyone sat down in a circle and Gomamon was chilling out in the calm waves of the ocean, Joe began to figure out how to ration the food.

"Okay, let's figure this out. There's eight people in the group, times three days," he said so everyone could follow along, "times three meals a day, that comes to..."

"Seventy two meals," Izzy said helpfully.

"Uh, right. So split evenly between us, we have, uh..." Joe trailed off again.

"Enough food for three days," Izzy finished for him again.

"Right! Oh, exactly, I guess you knew that," Joe said sheepishly.

"But guys," Sora said, bringing forth a small detail, "When you count in the digimon, we only have enough for about... have an hour."

"Oh, that's right..." Joe sighed out, reaching up to scratch the back of his head as he tried to figure out a way to make the food last longer.

"Not a problem at all," Gabumon said with a smile, "We digimon hunt and forage for ourselves."

"You do?" Sora asked, while the other kids asked with a simple 'huh?'.

"No need to include us in your calculations," Tentomon told them proudly.

"You sure, Biyomon," Sora asked her partner.

"Oh, absolutely," the bird digimon said, "We can do alright for ourselves."

That brought Joe's spirits back up, "Alright! Now that that's taken care of, let's go ahead and divide this between the eight people here."

Just behind him, and ignoring him for the most part, Tai and Agumon were already chowing down.

"This is great," Tai said happily, "I could eat a dozen of these."

"Just what do you think _you're_ doing?" Joe demanded of the two.

"I'm glad we never here you complaining," the wild haired boy said sarcastically with half lidded eyes, getting Joe to grit his teeth at the younger kid.

"You people make me crazy!" The poor older boy exclaimed.

Just a little ways out at sea, Gomamon was still just chilling out, humming a little song to himself when he heard a monstrous growl that startled him, "Uh-oh!"

Whatever it was, it was moving towards the shore. Sitting next to Sora, Biyomon suddenly stood up and whirled around.

"Hmm," she intoned with a frown on her face as she glared towards the phone booths.

"Now what's the matter?" Sora asked.

"Trouble," the bird said simply, and it would prove true when the children began to hear the rumbling growl soon afterwards. And if that wasn't enough to get their attention, a giant geyser of water began spraying out of the sand with tremendous force. It moved along the shore, going under the payphones and knocking them one by one into the air. They each came crashing down, totally ruined.

The kids quickly got up from their meeting spot and ran, leaving Mimi's bag, the emergency food bag, and TK's pack behind them.

After the last of the phone booths was destroyed, the sand began to be pushed up from underneath, then turned into a twister for a moment before the sand cleared away to show a spiked twirling shell rising out of the ground.

"What's that?" Izzy called out. Tentomon was only too happy to reply.

"Shellmon!"

"What's a Shellmon!?"

"Something that gets mad for no reason!" Tentomon explained, stating only what he'd seen of the creature so far.

The top of the creatures she was spinning rapidly, still kicking up wind and sand, but it eventually slowed. At the front of the house sized shell, there was an opening with a mass of pink flesh and little green protrusions. This grew outwards, turning into a head with seaweed green hair tentacles, and bright pink skin, with two large hand with pink suckers at the end of each finger.

It roared at them angrily as it approached, pulling itself along with it's arms.

"Attacked by two digital monsters in the same day," Joe moaned, "And doesn't Shellmon know I'm allergic to shellfish?" Shaking that thought off Joe called out to the rest of the kids, "Everbody! Up here!" He turned and began to rapidly climb the fifteen foot high embankment behind them.

Shellmon wasn't having any of that though, spraying the guy down with water from the top of his head, knocking Joe onto his rump on the sand below.

"Joe!" Gomamon called from the sea before Shellmon blasted him too.

With those two taken care of, it turned its attention to the others. Standing at the front was Agumon, claws raised and frown on his face.

"Digimon, attack!"

"Right!" Gabumon, Biyomon and the others called back before rushing forward. Shellmon didn't seem the slightest bit afraid of the oncoming assault.

"Go, Agumon!" Tai called while Sora and Matt helped Joe to his feet, "You show him!"

"_Pepper Breath_!" Agumon called then released the familiar fireball at the big digimon. It managed to knock Shellmon's head to the side rather well, and Gabumon prepared to make use of the opening provided.

"_Blue Blaster_!" unfortunately, the blue stream of fire sputtered out after just a few feet," Huh?"

Biyomon moved up next to try her luck, "_Spiral Twister_!" The spiraling green flames took form for a second, but just as quickly disappeared.

"_Super Shocker_!" Tentomon's attack amounted to more of the same.

"What's happening to them?" Izzy cried out.

"They look like they've lost their powers," Matt said.

The Shellmon had recovered from Agumon's attack by now and began spraying water out of his head again. It knocked Biyomon out of the air, then slammed Agumon and Gabumon back, before moving on to ground Tentomon.

"Agumon!" Tai called out, worried for his buddy. The Dinosaur jumped right back into the battle though. And it was still going in Shellmon's favor.

"_Boom Bubble_!" Patamon called, but his attack didn't even really make it out of his mouth before it failed and a tentacle sent him flying away.

"_Whirlwind Fist_!" Skymomon punched forward with her right forearm covered in the swirling green winds, but it just petered out and she began to drop out of the sky, Shellmon helping her get to the ground faster with a blast of water.

"_Poison Ivy_!" Palmon held her claws up, but they didn't even wiggle.

The pink hermit crab creature just knocked her away with a swing of it's head.

Agumon then hit it with another Fireball. It seemed he was the only one capable of attacking at the moment.

"Go get him, Agumon!" Tai encouraged.

"Why is it only Agumon?" Izzy asked, as he kneeled next to the fallen Tentomon.

"We're just too hungry," the beetle moaned.

"Wha?"

"Gabumon!" Matt said, his voice thick with worry.

"I don't have any strength," the poor guy struggled to say.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Skymomon mumbled into the arms of her partner.

"Oh, Skymomon."

"That's it!" Sora said as she stood up with Biyomon in her arms, "Agumon is the only one who had anything to eat."

"Now I see," Izzy said.

"Then the other digimon don't have enough strength left to fight!" Matt concluded at the same time.

Tai, who had been paying attention to both the battle and what his friends were saying, turned his full focus on the fight.

"Agumon, looks like it's just you and me now!" he called out to the yellow dinosaur.

"Then give me a diversion!" Agumon yelled back.

Tai didn't even hesitate to run forward. He cut off to the large digimon's right side, yelling the whole way, "Hey, Shellmon! Ugly! Over here!"

Shellmon followed Tai's movement, and Sora gasped in fear for the boy, "No, don't!"

At the same time, on the other side of the huge digimon, Agumon sent out another Fireball, stopping the monster from attacking Tai. That gave the goggle wearing boy enough time to pick up a long piece of metal from one of the destroyed phone booths and run over to start hitting the side of the creatures shell with it.

"This'll work!" He began hitting the monster as hard as he could, "How do ya- like- that?" He paused each time he whacked the shell, until the digimon wrapped him in a green tentacle and lifted him into the air, "Huh!?"

"Hang on, Tai!" Agumon called out when he saw the boy get wrapped up. But the Shellmon just growled angrily and pinned the little digimon underneath one large hand.

Those two take care of, he turned his ire on the other kids and their digimon. He leaned his head forward and began spewing forth more high pressure water. From right to left he smashed them one by one into the wall of the embankment. If it wasn't enough to knock the kids out, it was certainly enough to hurt if their cries were anything to go by.

"Watch out!" Tai tried to warn them, "He's gonna get everyone! And there's nothing I can do! Aaah!" Tai screamed in pain and the monster tightened it's hold on him around his torso.

Agumon, peaking his head out from under Shellmon's paw, yelled out, "Tai, no!"

The situation was only getting more hopeless as the seconds passed. Tai could hear the tentacle tightening around him. Soon it was gonna be tight enough to crush him into Tai flavored pudding! But then a new noise started up. It was a high pitched keening and it came from the device on his shorts.

"Digivolve!" Agumon called out, summoning up all the energy he could from his connection to Tai.

Like on the cliff face, the gizmo glowed brightly, then it sent a bar code like stream of light into the sky. The swirling black returned and another beam of light came down to strike Agumon who was also glowing with blinding yellow light beneath Shellmon's hand.

"What's... goin' on!?" Tai questioned. The other kids were speechless with awe.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" And suddenly, Shellmon did not have a hand big enough to cover what was once Agumon. Now, in the little guy's place, was a huge dinosaur with orange sales. It had blue strips going all down its back, big red eyes, and three claws to each hand. On it's head was a brown helmet like thing with three horns, two on the sides just behind it's eyes and one coming out of the tip of it's nose.

The Shellmon was flipped onto its side by the much bigger dinosaur, and it let go of Tai, sending him flying don the length of the beach as it did. Luckily, the sand was softer than straight rock, so, after a spin or to on the ground, Tai was good enough to get back up.

"Heh heh heh!" Greymon laughed as he turned to properly face the shellfish.

"Whoa," Tai said, "He did it again! Now he's Greymon!"

Between the two huge digimon, it was now a stand off. But it only lasted for a scant few moments. Shellmon rushed forward to knock Greymon back with a headbutt. Greymon wasn't to be moved though, stopping the monster with little effort.

"Now you're getting him! Go Greymon!" Tai shouted his support.

Unsatisfied with this, Shellmon tried to blast him with another high pressure geyser of water. Greymon dodged to the side, then began breathing fire back at the sea dwelling digimon. The fire and water clashed, creating steam in the middle.

The water cut out and Shellmon took a step back. Greymon wouldn't have it though. He grabbed the critter by two of the horns protruding from its shell and placed his head under it's torso and lifted up with all his might. Quite unexpectedly on the part of Shellmon, the digimon was thrown through the air, showing the bottom of his grey shell.

Greymon took the opening this created and charged up his special attack.

"_DigiNova Blast!_" A huge mackin' fireball flew out of Greymon's mouth and slammed into the Shellmon. It propelled him further into the air then exploded with great effect, sending the shellfish digimon far out to sea.

With the battle over, Greymon began to glow and shrink, becoming Agumon again.

"What?" Tai wondered, running forward to meet his partner, "Agumon! Oh," He got there just as the glow faded out and the little guy collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, "Are you okay? You poor little guy. Agumon!"

"Tai?" Agumon asked as he regained consciousnee, "Tai!"

"Huh?" the boy's worry began to fade.

"Do you have anything... to eat?" the little dino asked.

This prompted relieved nervous chuckles from Tai, who was happy just to have his buddy still be okay.

A few minutes later, with Gomamon still enjoying the nice sea water, Joe was on the phone again. Or at least he was trying to use what was left of one.

"Hello? Hello! Come on, I know you're there! Operator? Operator!" he was kneeling in the sand next to the only intact phone, the receiver held to his head.

A little ways away, the rest of the children were sitting around a veritable picnic.

"There's really no reason to stay here now," Tai said.

"Who wants to break the bad news to Joe?" Matt asked, obviously not volunteering.

The digimon were eating some food of their own, the meals split between the kids and the creatures so that if yet another creature attacked, they would have the energy to fight this time.

"You want some more, just say so," Sora told the digimon while she knelt next to Biyomon.

Standing between Matt and Tai, Izzy made them aware of the full situation, "Shellmon was not destroyed, just temporarily removed. We should pack up and leave before he decides to come back for round two."

"Good idea," Matt gave.

"In that case, we should go right back to the forest," Joe said, having finally given up on the phone, "'cause if anyone's looking for us, that's right where they'll go!"

"Joe, I've said this before," Sora told him as she stood up, "We fell down a cliff and floated down a river to get here. It's gonna be a really big job to get back."

"And we could run into Kuwagamon," Mimi protested from her place on the ground.

"Now, listen," Izzy began, "Logically speaking, if there are telephones here, there must be people to use them. So, I think it makes good sense to try and find those people."

"That makes sense?" Joe queried unbelieving.

"It certainly does," Sora insisted.

"I think so," Lucy said with a smile.

Joe grumbled, but Tai said aloud, "Then let's all get going!"

"Anywhere you wanna go, I'll go, Tai!" Agumon said happily, "You just picked the direction!"

"Then let's get out of this place," Tai said with a big smile.

"And Let the monsters beware," Matt said, Joe nodding.

"Mm-hmm, well, my plan is to avoid all monsters. Yep. That's my plan," the blue haired boy said.

"Okay!" Tai said, after they all picked up the supplies they'd laid out, "Here we go!" He lead the way down the beach, everyone looking a lot happier having been fed and rested.

Chapter Two: End.

Please Enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3 Garurumon

Chapter Three: Garurumon

As they walked around the island Lucy couldn't help but think about the days events. It was the strangest thing she'd ever heard of happening. A bunch of kids at a summer camp get sent to a place called the Digiworld. A group of little creatures come out of the woodwork to greet them, befriending them right off the bat. A giant beetle attacks, they fall off the side of a cliff, but not before the little digimon get bigger. Then, at a beach with all these phone booths right there in the sand, a giant shellfish attacks them, and Agumon, the little guy that had befriended Tai, turn's into a humongous dinosaur that proceeds to blast the bejeebus out of that ugly hermit crab.

It was kinda like a dream. She really hoped it wasn't.

Lucy looked up at Skymomon, happily jumping through the trees, and smiled. The winged monkey digimon never looked more at home. Thinking back on the fight with Shellmon, though, she wondered if Skymomon would turn into some ginormous creature like that. Would she still have wings if she did?

Lucy shrugged to herself as she walked along behind the rest of the kids, hands behind her head as she looked up at the sky. It really was such a marvel. The coloration and the little motes of white light made it look like the stars were out during the day. She kind of wondered if the other kids had noticed.

"Hey, Lucy!" Sora called back to the younger girl, "You're falling behind!"

Turning her gaze away from the beautiful, unearthly sky, she noticed that indeed she was lagging back from the rest of them.

"Sorry!" She called back as she ran to catch up, "I was daydreaming." She caught up to the rest of the kids, just as they broke out of the trees and came to a rock ledge over looking the ocean again.

"What were you thinking about so hard?" TK asked.

"It must have been really important," Skymomon insisted as she landed next to her partner.

"Maybe," Lucy shrugged, "I was just wondering about how Agumon changed back there against Shellmon. Will all of you guys change like that?"

"We certainly have the ability," Tentomon said as he hovered over.

"Really?" TK asked as he looked at Patamon, "You guys are the coolest! I wish I could transform!"

"Yeah, well, on that topic," Tai began, turning to the little yellow dino.

"What's up, Tai?" Agumon asked as he ran up to stand next to the preteen.

"I like it when you're Greymon," he said pretty bluntly, "No offense, but why don't you just stay that way?"

"I can't," the digimon told him, causing Tai to cross his arms petulantly, "But even superheroes need a break!" That statement seemed to physically rock Tai, almost sending him into the surf below if it weren't for Agumon's quick reflexes. He grabbed the back of Tai's shirt and pulled him back to solid ground.

The odd stance that this created had the rest of the kids laughing. Even Joe, disappointed as he was that they hadn't found a single human aside from them, had to cut loose a little bit.

But it seemed, nothing stayed calm for long.

A loud growling sound alerted the kids to the presence of yet more Digital Monsters.

None of them hesitated to look, wanting to get a heads up on whatever else might be attacking. To the left of the group, smashing it's way through a boulder like it was nothing, was another dinosaur looking digimon. It was mostly white and it walked on all fours. It had metal plating all on it's back, on the front side of it's legs and over it's head. It had a big metal horn coming out of the end of it's nose, and a spiked crest coming out of the back of it's head. By the growling roars it let out, it wasn't very happy.

It turned it's head and focused its large, green eyes on the group of children.

"Who's that digimon?" Izzy asked.

Tentomon was quick to explain, "It's a Monochromon. But don't worry about him, he's a laid back digimon," the dinosaur digimon roared at the kids, showing off his large sharp teeth, and Tentomon added to his explanation, "Although it is wise to be a bit cautious with a Monochromon. They tend to get a bit miffed when they're hungry."

"Then he must be really hungry," Tai said as the digimon approached the group, "'cause he looks really mad!"

Mimi cringed away from the big monstrosity, "I think he wants to eat us!" she quailed.

And just then, when the kids were sure the situation couldn't get much worse, it did. Another, familiar, growling sounded from behind them.

Turning to look, they saw yet another Monochromon, looking about as happy as the first. Mimi screamed in fear.

"There's two of them!" Joe cried out.

"We're caught between a rock and two sets of teeth!" Matt quipped, but you could hear the panic in his voice.

The two Monochromon prepared to charge, and the kids quickly slipped out of the path of destruction, between a few large boulders. The large digimon didn't even seem to care, just slamming into each other, horn first.

Realizing they weren't being chased, morbid curiosity had the kids turning around to watch the fight. Some of them were just marveling that they _weren't_ the ones being attacked this time.

The two digimon circled each other, growling and posturing, before one got a devious idea and slammed his tail into another boulder, sending a large piece of it flying into the face of the other.

Peeking out from behind the boulder, Tai said, "Something must have set those Monochromon off."

"They're fighting over territory," Tentomon explained.

"They can just have it then!" Palmon said before turning around to run off into the dense forest, wanting nothing more to do with this dispute.

Mimi was quick to notice and followed the plant digimon, "Hey! Don't leave without me!" The other children were like minded, running away before the fight spilled over into their little hiding spot.

"They definitely don't need us hanging around!" Tai said as he sprinted along. No one disagreed.

The dino digimon just kept at it, slamming into one another angrily, until one finally got the upper hand on the other, smashing it into the ground.

The shock waves from that cause TK's foot to catch on the ground, making him trip. Matt was at his side in an instant.

"TK! Come on!" he said as he helped the younger boy up.

"Better hurry up you guys!" Tai called back to them.

"Okay!" TK called back once he was steady on his feet, dashing off to keep up with everyone, "We're coming!"

Eventually, through their wrestling, the two Monochromon rolled off the rock face and into the sea below. The children didn't see this, so instead kept running till they absolutely had to stop for a break.

"Well," Lucy puffed, "That was fun," she groused sarcastically.

"Really? I thought it was terrifying," Skymomon said, wiping her brow of sweat with her prehensile tail.

Lucy just sweat dropped at that, "No, I was being sarcastic, Skymomon."

"Oh," the blue monkey said, but not really seeming to get it.

"Come on, everyone," Tai said as he stood straight after a few minutes to get his breath back, "Let's get going. We still haven't found anybody, and this island is huge, so we've got a lot of ground to cover."

The others groaned a bit, but gave their agreements. If nothing else, continuing to search would get them further away from the battle with the Monochromon.

+-9

Three or four hours passed with the children just walking through the woods, occasionally starting up conversations here and there. The trek was long, though, and one of the girls in particular was not have the time of her life. No, definitely not, and it was about time she let the others know too.

"I don't walk this much unless I'm at a mall," Mimi whined, ignoring the random road signs that were interspersed with the local flora, "and as you can see, we're nowhere near one!" She walked over to lean on a tree, placing her forehead on her forearm in a 'woe is me' gesture.

"Mimi," Tai scolded lightly as he passed, "stop whining."

"No!" the girl said right back while Agumon stopped to look at her, "My feet hurt!"

"Maybe if you take off your boots and socks you'd feel better," Agumon said helpfully, "It's much more practical, I think."

Mimi whirled around to face him, a frown on her face, "I'm not walking in dirt in my bare feet!" she all but shouted as Palmon came over.

"I love the feel of the dirt under my feet!" the plant digimon told her partner, "Especially between my toes!"

"Gross!" Mimi blanched. Palmon just sighed.

"It appears that we may be losing our light source," Izzy pointed out as he looked up at the sky, the blues and greens were becoming pinks, oranges and reds.

"What a weird sunset," Sora said, her gloved hands on her hips.

"This whole island is weird!" Izzy exclaimed as they watched the sky, "And who knows what will come out at night."

"Wait," Tentomon said as he lifted the back part of his shell and began to rapidly beat his wings, "I detect water. Stay here while I check it out," the bug digimon didn't wait for the brainy boy to say anything before he flew up to a branch in the tallest tree nearby, "Yes!" he called back to the kids and digimon on the ground, "As usual, I'm right. It's a lake with fresh, clean water. And a variety of tasty fish. It's a perfect camp site!"

Mimi, who had taken the small break to sit down, said, "Maybe I can finally soak my poor, achy feet."

"Yay! We get to swim!" the seal digimon partnered to Joe called out as he began hopping in the direction of the lake only to be stopped by the blue haired boy grabbing his tail.

"Gomamon! You better wait and make sure it's safe first!" he said with real concern over the digimon in his voice.

Standing before his little brother T.K, Matt turned to the others, "That's why I think we should keep walking and stop all the complaining."

"Everybody's hungry," Tai agreed, "We have to find some food."

"That is a good plan," Joe said to the other two boys, "I like that plan a lot."

Without anymore preamble, the kids got back to their feet and went marching to the lake. It took them another twenty minutes, and the sky was getting darker all the time, but they made it before the sun completely set.

The lake was beautiful and just as odd as the rest of the island. The water was a clear crystal blue, with the only odd thing about it so far being the electrical towers going through it's center.

"It should be safe to rest here tonight," Biyomon said.

"Yeah, I love camping outside!" Sora said with a grin.

Mimi had a disgusted look on her face as she said, "If I wont walk in dirt, what makes you think I'll sleep in it?"

"Mimi, do you see a hotel here?" Tai asked, trying to get her to see reason.

The girl in pink clothing looked about ready to make another protest, but the sound of electricity arching and artificial lights turning on stopped her newest complaint.

"What's that?" Tai asked, twirling around to find the source of the noise.

"It looks like a trolley car," TK identified.

"That's odd," Izzy noted, "the lights just... came on."

Sora, standing behind Biyomon should it come to yet another fight, said, "Well, maybe there's some real people in there."

"Let's check it out!" Tai said, already running to the trolley, Agumon right beside him with a grin. The other kids didn't bother to hide their interest, except one. Lucy ran alongside the other kids, but, honestly, she wasn't as eager to find a way home. It just... it just felt like this was where she belonged.

The car was on the middle of a little island in the lake, with a stone bridge between the lake shore and the island. The trolley car itself, other than the oddity of its placemen there, was very usual. Painted beige with blue stripes, it didn't even have different wheels. It still needed the tracks to run on.

"Maybe it can take us back home in air conditioned comfort!" Mimi puffed out as she ran.

"Mimi, wait up!" Tai called as the prissy girl managed to pull ahead of everyone. He was just behind her though, going in through the nearest door that opened automatically, "Bummer," he said, "It's empty."

"Totally empty," Sora said as she walked on through another entrance.

Izzy was there too, inspecting the floor with a critical eye, "No trolley car is this clean." Indeed. The metal flooring and the green bench seats were spotless, like it was factory new.

Mimi had already moved to sit down on one of the seats and bounced in place to test their softness, "Oh, goody! These cushions are comfy!" A smile was finally back on her face.

"Somethings wrong," Tai said, "Remember those weird phone booths we saw on the beach? Something just as freaky could happen here!"

Joe, sitting in the drivers chair and looking over the controls, said, "Yeah, like this suddenly moving all by itself."

Tai just crossed his arms, "Possibly. But then again, maybe that's how we're going to get home." Sora was already lounging on the seat just behind Tai, a look of bliss on her face.

"So we have nothing to lose by staying here," she pointed out.

Tentomon was standing on the seat next to her, "Ooh," he groaned, "Can we eat now?"

"That's right, I forgot," Tai said.

A few minutes later would find everyone back outside again. Gomamon, was swimming about in the water, like he had back in the ocean, much to the ire of Izzy.

"Gomamon," he called, "stop playing in the water! I can catch any fish if you keep warning them away!" in the boy's hands was a fishing pole, cobbled together from a stick and a bit of string. TK was sitting next to Izzy, eager for his turn to try.

Tentomon was currently up a tree, looking at a patch of berries, "Yum, yum! You can't get too many berries down the hatch."

Just below him, Joe and Sora had picked up large armfuls of sticks and other things. A little ways away, holding onto Agumon's head for leverage, Patamon charged up a Boom Bubble. After a few seconds he let it go, getting the aim just right to hit a batch of bananas that fell from the tree to land straight on Gabumon's horn.

"Ah!" The digimon cried out in pain, holding his head. The tan digimon landed beside the fur wearing digimon, and apologetic look on his face.

Biyomon giggled a little at that, "Oh boy, you better watch that killer breath, Patamon," She continued to giggle as she flew off to grab an odd looking striped fruit in her beak and work at pulling it loose with some effort.

"Those are bad mushrooms!" Palmon warned, somewhere on the ground, "You shouldn't pick 'em. They'll make you sick."

Mimi had been about to pick some mushrooms that had red pokadots on their yellow tops, but stopped at Palmon's insistence, "Oh," She turned to the plant digimon with a smile on her face and her hands held together before her chest, "I'd be a mess without you, Palmon, you're the best!"

Palmon seemed to grow her legs out to stand taller and she said, "Oh, stop," a big smile on her green face.

Lucy was crouched before a bush full of multicolored berries, "I wonder if these are safe to eat."

Beside her, hanging by her tail from a branch, Skymomon just nodded, "Yeah, I used to eat these all the time! They're super good!" The digimon and the pink haired human began picking the berries together to take back for the group to share, although Skymomon did sneak a few into her mouth.

Back at the lake shore, Matt and Tai had finished setting the stones around their fire pit, and Joe and Sora had placed the sticks in the middle.

"Well, we're all set to cook dinner," Matt said, "Now all we need is the grub."

"Great," Sora said, realizing at the last minute something important, "But how are we supposed to like the fire?"

"Like this," Agumon said, running up and breathing fire into the pit and setting the sticks into a strong blaze.

"Wow, Agumon!" Tai said with a big grin, "You're the man!" Agumon just smiled back and laughed at the praise.

"Hey, lookit!" TK said as he and Izzy came running up. They each had several fish they'd managed to catch.

"We caught a bunch of fish!" the computer expert said.

"Awesome, Izzy! Let's eat 'em!" Tai decided.

"Thanks, squirt," Matt said to a proudly grinning TK as he placed a fish on a stick before taking it over to the camp fire. He was just in time to see Tai holding a fish by the tail over the blaze.

"This is where I wish we had a microwave."

"Me too," Matt said as he came over, "because you're about to lose your fingers. Why don't you use a stick?" He demonstrated by placing the fish on a stick on the ground, the end of the stick pushed into the soil diagonally to hold it over the flame to cook.

"How did you come up with that, Matt?" Tai asked as he watched him.

"Because I'm the man," he said with a smug grin as they watched the fish cook and prepared the others similarly.

The preparations carried on, none of the kids going much farther that the others could see, just in case something happened. In the brush, they even found a couple of oddly colored melons, that they'd cut in half.

As the fish finished cooking Biyomon and Tentomon were working on one of the melon halves.

"This is surprisingly good," the bug digimon said.

"Delicious!" Izzy said as he chewed on his own fish.

"Yeah, these fish taste great!" Lucy said happily, "Maybe we can catch more for breakfast!"

"Matt," TK said apprehensively as he held a fish before him, "Mom only lets me eat fish _sticks_."

"I wont tell," he told the younger boy, trying to get him to just eat.

"I never eat with my fingers," the little boy went on to say.

"TK," Matt said, a little annoyed, "It's alright!"

"Yeah," Tai said, leaning over, "You're hangin' with the big boys now," he said as he pointed at the green wearing eight year old.

"Kay," TK said with a shrug, digging into the fish with appreciative mumbles for the taste.

Tai, seeing Sora filling a hollowed out bamboo stick with water, decided to walk over and make her aware of some observations and see what she thought.

"Hey, Sora?"

"What?" The girl asked, pulling her hand out of the water and looking up at the wild haired boy.

"Matt doesn't treat TK like a brother, only like he's a bother," Tai said plaintively, "Is it just me, or have you noticed that too?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder..."

"Matt's still learning to be a big brother," Sora said by way of explanation.

"Maybe..." Tai said, looking to the sky, as if that would give him the answer.

"Hmmm," Joe intoned as he walked forward near where Tai and Sora were talking. His eyes were firmly on the sky.

"Hey, Joe," the helmet wearing girl said, "What'cha lookin' at?"

"I'm trying to find out which direction we've been going, but the stars seem to be all mixed up," he told them, "I haven't been able to find the North Star anywhere."

This prompted both Sora and Tai to look up as well, "I know," the girl said, "I don't recognize any of these constellations."

"You're forgetting your astronomy," Tai told them, "If you can see the north star then it must be on the other side of the world."

"Do you think we could be in the southern hemisphere?" Sora asked.

Turning around with hand on his hips, Joe said, "Yes, I suppose it's possible. That is, if we're still on earth."

"I don't think we are," Lucy said, having wandered over, curious about what they were talking about. She still had a half eaten fish in hand as she looked up at the three taller kids.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tai asked as the three turned to the ten year old.

"Well," Lucy said, a little unsure of her assumption, "Did you guys see the sky? And not just now, but during the day, too."

"Yeah," Joe said, "What about it?"

"No, she's right," Sora supported Lucy, catching on to what the girl was saying, "I've seen pictures of the Amazon, and Southern Africa, but the sky always looked the same as back home. Here it's really strange. Like nothing I've ever seen."

"Maybe Izzy was right," Tai said, a hand on his chin as he thought about it all, "Maybe we were kidnapped by aliens."

"Awe man!" Joe groused, "I don't want to even think about that. I bet we're just on some new island no one has ever heard of before. Or maybe we're in the Bermuda Triangle. A bunch of weird stuff happens there, right?"

The other three looked to each other then nodded a little less sure than Joe was trying to sound.

After the meal, Patamon yawned rather adorably so.

"Look, Patamon's tired," TK said from his place on the ground as the little guy fell asleep right there on the ground. Only a few feet away Palmon was leaning against Gomamon, who was sleeping with his head rested on his front flippers.

Stretching, Tai fought off a yawn, "I'm getting really tired myself."

Izzy chose that moment to walk over with a good tactic in mind, "Wait a second. I think we should take turns standing guard."

Joe immediately agreed, "Alright, who wants to go first?"

"How about if each of us stands guard for about an hour?" Tai suggested.

"Not TK," Matt said, standing up from around the fire.

TK got up right beside him and tugged on the older boys shirt, "Hey, come on! Me too, Matt!"

"No! You're too young and you need your rest," Matt told him with a tone that cut off any further argument.

Mimi was now standing as well, just as tired as the others though, "I'm getting cold. I need a warm blanket to help me sleep?"

Tai smirked and turned to the only digimon there wearing a fur coat, "Hey, Gabumon," he was holding his hands out before him as he approached, as if ready to grab at the digimon, "You better watch it. Mimi may sneak up on you and steal your fur!" Gabumon balked, cringing away from the human boy, "So if you feel a little tug, it might be her, about to cut your tail off!" He grabbed the back of the fur coat, tugging lightly, but freaking the poor digimon out as he chuckled.

"Stop, Tai!" Gabumon said as he pulled away from the boy's grip, "That's not funny!"

"Quit it!" Matt said, running up and shoving Tai back.

"Ow! What are you buggin' about!?" Tai asked, clenching his hands into fists. The others watched with muted shock as the two boys looked ready to fight.

"Gabumon told you to stop!" Matt practically yelled, "So knock it off!"

"Hey!" Tai growled back, "You can't tell me what to do!" Honestly, he probably wouldn't have gone much farther with the joke, but just because he was teasing Gabumon didn't give the blonde boy the right to order him around!

That was enough for Matt to move in and grab Tai by the front of his blue shirt. Tai did the same, taking a fistful of Matt's high collared tank top in hand.

"Stop fighting, you guys!" TK cried out. That seemed to snap the two of them out of it, luckily before it came to blows. They looked to TK before whirling around and putting their backs to each other with their arms crossed angrily. Joe chose that moment to step in before anything else could be said between the two of them.

"You'd both make great guards," he said as he stood to the side of the boys, "Who goes first?"

"I will!" Tai said quickly, determined to prove himself.

"I'm next!" Matt said, just as eager as he pointed at himself with a thumb.

Their actions got Lucy to shake her head. Boys fought over the dumbest things.

"I'll go after them," she volunteered. The other kids calmed down too, seeing the fight was well and truly over.

"How about Izzy takes over after you three, then I finish up the night?" Joe suggested, "I propose the rest of us trek back to the bus and get some shut eye."

That was approved by all. Gomamon, Palmon, Tentomon and Biyomon took the time to gather some large leaves and made a nice little nest on the floor of the trolley.

Unfortunately, no matter how she sat, Mimi couldn't get to sleep.

"I can't sleep with all of you here," she whined.

"Stop complaining," Sora said, sounding near the end of her patience, "So it's not perfect. Just be glad we _have_ a place to sleep." the helmet wearing girl was sitting on the bench on the other side of the car with TK.

"That's right, Mimi!" Izzy said from his place next to Mimi. Joe was just standing before the four of them with a tired smile on his face.

"Good night," he told them as he found his own place towards the front of the trolley car.

"Don't let the Monochromon bite," TK rhymed with a small smile then pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned back against the seat cushion. Patamon was laying in the seat next to him and curled up to go to sleep.

'_Thanks for reminding me, TK_,' Sora thought as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

'_My feet still hurt_,' Mimi grumbled mentally.

'_Why is there a trolley here?_' Izzy wondered to himself as he lay there with his arms under his head.

'_I hope I don't get any monster cooties,_' was Joe's last thought before he took of his glasses and leaned back to get some sleep.

Lucy was laying down on a bench toward the back of the car, across from and to the left of Matt. She was laying on her back with her hands resting on her stomach. She was trying to sleep despite the lights being on inside the car. She always had a hard time sleeping under electric lighting. After a few minutes she gave up and stood up quietly to leave the Trolley.

"Where are you going?" Matt asked in a whisper.

"It's too bright in here. I'll just go sleep by the fire. It'll be easier to wake me up for my watch that way too." Skymomon was already asleep, so Lucy carried her gently out of the trolley car.

"Mmm," the winged monkey mumbled, "more bananas, thanks..."

Lucy smiled slightly as she moved towards Tai.

"Hey, Lucy," he greeted her, "What's up?"

Lucy sat down a little way away from the fire, "I can't sleep when it's too bright. So I'll just sleep out here tonight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Tai said with a smile, "That's cool."

"Thanks," Lucy said as she laid back, placing one hand behind her head and one on her stomach. She didn't go to sleep immediately, instead watching the stars.

'_This place is so weird,_' she though as her eyes closed, focusing on that warm feeling in her chest, '_But I __really like it here too._'

Back on the Trolley, Matt was sitting there with his head bent forward, and his arms crossed. He stayed that way for a little while before whispering to his partner.

"Gabumon?"

"Yeah?" the creature asked.

"Go over and lay down with my brother," the boy said, finally open his eyes.

"Why, Matt?"

"Because your fur is making me sweat," Matt said a little harshly, "Now go!"

"Because you want me to keep TK warm," Gabumon saw right through him though.

Matt just stood up and turned away from the digimon, "Hey, I didn't say that!"

"You just don't want to admit it," the fur covered digimon said as he hopped down off the bench to move over towards TK.

"Whatever," he groused as he moved off.

Gabumon laid on the bench with TK and Patamon, placing on fur covered arm over the little boy. TK woke up momentarily, feeling the extra warmth, and saw Gabumon there.

"Thanks, Matt," the little boy mumbled when he saw his brother watching over him, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Matt gasped at being caught and quickly turned his head away, blushing at being caught.

About an hour later, the lights had finally turned off in the trolley.

Tai was yawning again as he kept a vigilant watch. He noticed the lights go off.

"Hey, Tai," Agumon whispered, "Think we should tell Lucy that the lights are off now?"

The boy looked over at the little girl. She'd pulled her hood up over her head and was sleeping curled up in a ball next to Skymomon.

"Nah, let's just let her sleep for now. It'd be a shame to wake her." He yawned again, and stood up, "My eyes won't stay open," he complained, "I'm going to the lake and splash some water on my face." He never even noticed as he stepped on a red pack on the ground that was a different texture to the rest of the little Island.

He was way too out of it to notice as the ground rumbled a little bit after he'd passed by.

After taking off his white gloves and splashing a good amount of water on his face, he heard someone moving around.

"Who's there?" he demanded as he stood up quickly, "Oh, Matt," he drawled, "Don't you think I can handle it?"

The other boy was staring out over the lake with his back to Tai, "I... couldn't sleep."

"Oh? And why not?" Tai asked challengingly as he ran up to the other boy.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," Matt said after a couple seconds, "I didn't mean to get so mad. It's just... being here, and having to watch TK..." the blond boy trailed off.

"Do you guys even live in the same house?" Tai asked bluntly.

"Not anymore," Matt admitted, looking over his shoulder, "We're half brothers and we don't get to see each other much."

"Well, that explains a lot," the wild haired boy said. If he didn't always have to act like a big brother, it would make sense for why he wasn't used to it.

Matt gasped and ran off, not wanting to hear another word. Tai just watched him go confused. The blond ran off across the stone bridge, determined to be alone for a little while.

Tai just shrugged as he pulled on his gloves and walked back to the fire, "Matt's a little strange."

Then, over the din of the noises of the night and the popping of the fire, Tai and Agumon heard the sound of a harmonica being played.

"Huh?" they intoned together as they turned to look for the culprit.

Across the way, partially shrouded in darkness, Matt began to really play his harmonica. And he was really good at it too. In her sleep, Lucy smiled at the good music. As he continued to play, he only barely noticed Gabumon walk up to him.

"What a wonderful sound," The digimon said, a look of wonder on his face as he listened to the music Matt was making.

Tai disagreed, "Maybe to a Saint Bernard with a horn on his forehead..." he mumbled as he said before the fire. Despite that, the goggle wearing boy began to be lulled into sleep by the tune. He woke up about a minute later, noticing the fire beginning to wane.

He picked up a stick and prodded it a little, prompting another small stick to go flying out to his left, luckily away from the girl sleeping nearby.

"Watch out for the fire sparks!" he told Agumon.

Unluckily, the burning piece of wood fell down on the red piece of ground that Tai had walked on earlier. The island began to rumble, and the red part flipped about strongly enough to knock Agumon off his feet.

"Hey!" Tai called, barely able to keep his balance.

"Lucy!" Agumon called, saving the girl from rolling into the water.

"Thanks, Agumon," the girl breathed, and Skymomon nodded her thanks as well, having been rolling right along with her.

The calm waters of the lake stopped being so calm and a huge waterspout began to form.

"Oh, no!" Matt cried as ground shook.

"What's going on?" Lucy yelled as she held on to Agumon to help keep her footing while Skymomon took to the air.

As if in answer to the pink haired girl's question, the waterspout grew bigger and taller till a giant serpentine monster popped out. It had blue scales, a white belly and red stripes on it's body. It had a long snout for a mouth, filled with sharp teeth, and it's head was golden in color. It had sea blue eyes and they were filled with pain and anger.

The new digimon roared at the kids and digimon visible on the island before turning to growl at Matt and Gabumon on the lake shore. If the island's shaking hadn't woken the other kids up, the monster's roar certainly did.

Inside the trolley it was obviously a combination of both, with Izzy and Mimi having been knocked haphazardly to the floor of the trolley with their digimon while the others looked out the windows for whatever was going on now.

"What's that horrible sound?" Sora asked.

"It's an earthquake!" Mimi cried as she ducked her head into her hands for cover, Palmon standing over her protectively.

Joe was barely managing to stay on his feet as he spoke, "The trolley is starting to move! And I don't think it's taking us home!"

"It's taking us toward that sea dragon!" Izzy yelled over the rumbling earth.

"Oh no, Seadramon!" Tentomon informed him.

The lake dwelling digimon turned away from the Island then and began to swim off. As it did so, the Island began to be pulled along after it. The stone bridge connecting it to the shore was destroyed by the movement. The kids piled out of the car in time to see this.

"We're gonna get eaten for sure," Mimi wailed.

"The land's moving!" Matt cried out, not having been quick enough to get to the bridge before it collapsed. Seadramon just kept swimming further out in the lake, pulling the island behind him.

"Hold tight, we're going for a ride!" Agumon yelled out, Lucy keeping a grip on the dinosaur.

"It's like we're on a monster long board!" Tai called back.

"He's pulling us along by his tail!" Izzy noticed, "I don't even think he realizes we're here."

"Perhaps not," Tentomon said, "He's a bit dense. As long as he doesn't see us, we should be safe."

Just as he said this, the giant sea monster began to slow down.

"Don't be too sure," Agumon said.

"You guys jinxed us!" Tentomon accused, hopping forward onto the red patch of ground in front of him, "Now he knows we're here."

"What? I didn't do anything," both Tai and Agumon said together just in time to see that red patch of ground lift up with Tentomon on it. The poor bug digimon was completely startled.

"Wah!" Izzy yelled, shielding his eyes from the dust that kicked up, "Guess he does know we're here." Tentomon luckily unfurled his wings before he began to fall and hit the ground.

The red thing ripped away from the island and sank into the water before popping up a few seconds later, flipping around.

"Ah! That big red thing was his tail!" Tai called out.

"It wasn't my fault!" Tentomon denied.

In response, Seadramon roared and slammed his tail into the island. This knocked the kids off their feet again. Lucy was forced to let go of Agumon and catch Skymomon as she fell out of the air. While that happened, the sea dragon retreated back under the water.

"He's comin' back and he's not happy!" Tai warned after regaining his feet and seeing the silhouette in the water approaching at high speed.

Under the water, Seadramon slammed his head into the bottom of the Island and began to push.

"We're gonna crash into the shore!" Joe cried once they started moving again.

"This is really gonna mess up my hair!" was Mimi's fear.

"TK!" Matt called, and jumped into the lake without any hesitation.

Gabumon hesitated on the shore though, "Matt, I'm just letting you know, my fur's gonna get wet and I'm gonna stink!" He then cannon balled in right behind his friend.

Matt was putting everything he knew about swimming and every ounce of strength he could muster into getting to TK as fast s he possibly could. It almost looked like he was clawing his way forward, as fast as he was going.

Before the Island could hit the shore, it was stopped by a couple of the electrical towers in the water.

"Great! He left us right in the middle of the lake!" Tai complained, though thankful that the island had stopped shaking.

Matt and Gabumon took this opportunity to pour on just a little more speed and they caught up to the island.

"I don't suppose we could trick him into taking us back," Izzy wondered aloud as the blue water dweller resurfaced.

"Get ready, he's attacking," Tai warned everyone. Lucy crouched, holding her hands over her ears as it roared again, louder than even before.

"Come on, you guys!" Agumon rallied the digimon, "Let's send him back to the fish heap!"

"No problem!" Gabumon called back.

"_Spiral Tornado!_" Biyomon announced, sending out the twirling green flames. Right beside her, Patamon let out a Boom Bubble. The two attacks impacted the monster, but just served to annoy him.

Palmon ran forward and threw out her vines, "_Poison Ivy!_" But the sea serpent digimon dodged.

Tentomon and Skymomon flew up next, getting right in Seadramon's face.

"_Super Shocker!_"

"_Whirlwind Fist!_"

Seadramon just whipped his head at them, forcing them to dodge away.

"_Pepper Breath!_" Agumon called from the ground.

Nothing was having any effect.

"Agumon! Digivolve!" Tai ordered.

"I've been trying, but I can't seem to do it this time, Tai," Agumon turned to face his partner.

"You have to!" Tai insisted.

"Maybe my body hasn't recovered from the last fight," the yellow digimon reasoned.

"But if you can't help us, how are we gonna stop Seadramon?" Tai despaired.

"TK! Over here!" Matt's voice came from the water at the back side of the island.

"Matt!" TK called out in relief running to go see his brother, Gomamon following him along, "Matt, be careful, or the monster will get yo-Ah!" The island shook and TK was launched into the water with Gomamon.

"TK!" Matt yelled, stopping just where TK fell in. Luckily, seconds later, the little boy popped up riding on Gomamon's back.

"Gomamon! Go!" Joe called out, proud of the digimon he'd befriended.

"Hurry up, Matt!" Tai called, glad to see the older blond.

"Get out fast!" Tentomon told them, "It's Seadramon, he's back!"

"Gomamon, you can do it," Matt told the seal digimon.

"Right!" The white digimon then made a hasty retreat for the shore.

"Hey!" Matt shouted to the sea serpent, luring him away from his little brother, "Over here you overgrown water lizard!" he swam out away from the island, Gabumon following about ten feet behind.

Unfortunately, he was successful, Seadramon moved to attack him. Gabumon wouldn't let him get to Matt without a fight though.

"_Blue Blaster!_" the stream of blue fire hit the side of Seadramon's face, and finally some damage was visible. Whatever it was that separated Gabumon's attacks from the other digimon, it was working.

Only at this stage it was just enough to make the monster even angrier. Seadramon used his tail to flip Gabumon through the air to the island. Then he wrapped the end of his tail around Matt and dragged him beneath the surface of the water. Matt could do nothing but hold his breath.

On shore, not far from where Gabumon landed, TK was feeling guilty, "Oh no, Matt was only trying to save me! I'll never forgive myself!" Sora and Mimi who were helping him out of the water looked like they wanted to argue the point, but the monster chose that moment to lift Matt out of the water, tightly wrapped in the end of his tail.

"Oh no!" Tai called, running over to see. The hold was getting tighter and tighter, just like Shellmon had done to Tai, and Matt was crying out in pain.

"This is not good!" Tentomon said, "Seadramon may be a bubble brain, but once he finds his prey he wont let go!"

"Matt!" TK called, tears in his eyes, "Hang on!"

Matt just continued to struggle against the ever tightening grip of sea monster's tail.

"Patamon, please help him!" TK begged the tan colored digimon, "Hit him with a Bubble Boom!"

"Seadramon's way too big," the little digimon said, "I just don't have enough power now. Gabumon, you're stronger, how about you?"

"You're right," Gabumon said, bowing his head, "Matt is in trouble and I must help!"

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled out, hoping against hope that the digimon could help him out.

"Don't give up, Matt!" TK yelled, "I'll find a way to save you if it's the last thing I do!"

"Matt! Hold on!" Gabumon yelled, "I don't understand any of this, but I have to save Matt!" he spoke to himself, "What's a little stinky fur compared to a friend like him?" Gabumon finished, not even noticing it as he began to glow blue.

The device on Matt's pants began to glow as well, emitting a high pitched sound and sending that glowing bar code up again. The vortex appeared in the sky and a beam of light shot down and hit Gabumon.

"Matt!" Gabumon yelled.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled back.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!" Garurumon was the twice the size of a large horse and resembled a wolf. He had lavender fur with blue striped from his snout to his long prehensile tail. He had golden eyes, and each paw was tipped with three red claws. Spiky tufts of fur crested his shoulders and made up his mane. The spiked fur was lavender with blue tips.

Garurumon didn't waste a single second. He ran forward and leapt through the air, slashing at Seadramon's tail and getting him to drop Matt. Then he latched onto the sea serpents back, biting down as hard as he could. Seadramon thrashed about in pain, roaring out his anger.

Free of the monster's tail, Matt quickly swam back to the island.

Finally Seadramon was able to whack Garurumon with his tail, knocking the large wolf digimon into the water. Not letting the wolf recover, he used his tail to push him far beneath the surface.

Just on shore, Matt was gasping for breath, both from the frantic swimming and the constricting hold he'd just been in.

"Are you okay, Matt?" TK came running over as Matt lifted himself off his belly.

"Yeah, but where's Gabumon?" The two of them looked out to the fight going on in the water, just as Garurumon resurfaced and began swimming away from Seadramon to gain some distance. The sea serpent tried to bite the wolf from behind, but got whipped on the eye by Garurumon's long tail.

Seadramon tried to whip Garurumon with his own tail, but it just bounced off the wolf's fur as he swam by.

"Garurumon's fur is legendary!" Tentomon told the children watching, "It's strong as steel! He's like a growling torpedo!"

"That's astonishing!" Izzy said, "Then he must be invincible!"

"Well, that's what I've heard anyway, we'll soon find out," Tentomon amended.

"I hope you're not exaggerating again, Tentomon, with another one of your wild fish tales," Tai spoke.

"He could be," Agumon said simply.

"But I heard about it!" Tentomon defended.

By this time, Seadramon had recovered from that tap on the eye and Garurumon was charging in to attack. Seadramon was prepared however. He opened his mouth and let loose a freezing blast of breath that froze Garurumon in place.

"Oh no!" Tentomon called out while fear spread across the faces of the kids, "Seadramon used his lethal Ice Blast!"

The serpent just kept up the blast, covering the wolf in more and more ice, making him an island all his own.

Garurumon growled and with a simply flex of his muscles, broke free of the ice and announced an attack, "_Howling Blaster!_" A blast of brightly glowing blue fire shout out of Garurumon's mouth, it pushed back Seadramon's Ice Blast until the fire reached the sea serpent's head.

With a final roar, the sea dwelling digimon lost consciousness and fell into the water.

TK through his hands up and laughed in relief while Matt pumped one fist into the air, "Yeah!"

The fight over, Garurumon glowed blue again and shrank back into the form of Gabumon, who made his way to the island. Just as he was getting onto shore, the sun was rising.

"Gabumon!" Matt called.

"Fine, sure a good way to keep my fur dry," the digimon smiled.

"You Digivolved into Garurumon just in time!" Matt told him.

"Aw, Gabumon, thank's for saving my brother!" TK ran up and hugged the yellow, fur coated digimon.

"Any time, little friend."

"Matt, you were so awesome against that monster!" TK said, turning to his brother.

"You think so?" Matt asked with a proud grin and a slight flush.

"You were the man!" Gabumon agreed.

"And you're the _wolf_ man!" Matt said right back to Gabumon getting the three of them to chuckle at the joke.

Tai and the others walked over to congratulate them as well, giggling a bit to themselves.

"Okay, very funny," Joe said at the back of the group, "but how are we supposed to get back?"

"Just watch," Gomamon called, "Fish power!" Hundreds, if not thousands of fish came to Gomamon's call and they all began pushing the island together. Just like the Fish Bed he'd summoned, they were like a living rainbow. With all those fish it didn't take long at all to push the island back to the edge of the lake.

"Gabumon, can I use you for a pillow?" Mimi asked once they were all on solid ground, "I promise I wont take your fur." She wasn't the only one still tired after the wild night they'd just went through. Sora was already laying down on her side, resting her head on one hand.

"Actually," Izzy interrupted some of their attempts to get to sleep, Sora in particular sat up, "There seems to be a pattern here. This time only Gabumon could Digivolve."

"Yeah," the helmet wearing girl said, "Izzy's right. Agumon was the only one who could do it before."

"Hmm," Tai thought about it for a moment, going over the battle with both Shellmon and Seadramon, comparing the two fights and seeing if there was something in particular that could be the trigger, "You're right, it's all beginning to make sense! Agumon Digivolved when I was in danger."

"That has to be the answer!" Izzy said, "Our digimon Digivolves when we're in trouble!"

"Yeah, that must be it," Sora said, but before more could be said, Mimi fell onto her shoulder asleep and snoring cutely, "Hey, watch it," she told the pink wearing girl gently and pushing her back in the other direction.

"Mmm, time to go to the mall," Mimi mumbled as she lay on the ground, Palmon resting her head and arms on her waist.

"We've been here one day, and I think she's put some muscle on her," Sora said jokingly.

"Yeah," Agumon said, "Maybe if she puts in some effort she'll become a hard bodied machine like I am!"

"I hope she grows pink wings just like my wings," Biyomon said from her perch on a branch nearby.

"You must be kidding," Mimi mumbled a little more before falling deeply asleep, her hat falling over her eyes.

Before long everyone began to follow her example. Joe sleeping on his stomach with Gomamon resting against him, Izzy and Sora sleeping back to back, and most of the digimon gather together sleeping in a group. Lucy was laying off to one side of Izzy and Sora, her hood covering her eyes and her arms and legs splayed out in her sleep. Skymomon was hanging upside down from the tree by her tail.

The only one's left awake were Tai, who was looking over the others with a peaceful smile, and Matt, who'd just begun to play the Harmonica again for TK who was beginning to fall asleep right beside him.

Tai yawned and stretched before noticing Matt off to the side, "Huh?" he sneaked over to see how it was going.

TK and Patamon on one side, Gabumon on the other, Matt just kept playing his instrument extremely well, lulling them into a deeper sleep.

"Big bro, you're the best," TK breathed as he leaned his head against his brother's shoulder.

From behind his tree, Tai smiled. It looked like Matt would do just fine as TK's big brother.

Chapter Three: End

Please Enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4 Biyomon gets Firepower

Chapter Four: Biyomon Gets Firepower

Lucy was not a particularly odd child. At least, discounting the fact that she had a digimon partner, but that was a recent development. She never really separated herself from the group. She didn't have a tendency to brood. Even her secret dream to fly wasn't all that individual. Heck, there weren't that many that _didn't_ wish they could fly under their own power.

She guessed, at the moment, that the only thing that really separated her from the other kids was Skymomon. None of them had a green winged, blue monkey for a partner. Well, that and the feeling she had deep in the core of what made her who she was.

The feeling was trying to tell her, despite all the trouble that had happened in just twenty four hours, that this was a good place. Kuwagamon trying to dice them? Just bring an extra big can of Raid. Shellmon doing its best to crush them? Seafood could be tricky like that. Seadramon trying to sink them? He was just cranky after being woken up from his nap.

Lucy was actually beginning to think that, just maybe, it wasn't so bad here. After all, during each of those fights, their digimon partners had pulled on their big boy pants and rectified the situation.

And, having seen what Agumon and Gabumon turned into, she wondered now what Skymomon would become. There seamed to be a logical step in their Digivolving. Agumon, a dinosaur, became a much bigger dinosaur as Greymon. Gabumon, who looked kind of like a dog thing with his fur, turned into a humongous wolf monster called Garurumon. Would Skymomon, a monkey as mentioned earlier, turn into a giant flying gorrilla creature?

"Hey," Lucy began as the kids gathered themselves together after their impromptu nap at the lake, "Skymomon?"

"Yes, Lucy?" The creature asked as she wrapped some of those multicolored berries from before in a leaf to stash in the pocket of Lucy's hoodie.

"Do you know exactly what you'll turn into? When you Digivolve, I mean," the human girl asked.

"Hmm..." Skymomom put a hand to her furry chin and tilted her head to one side, "You know... I really don't know," but she grinned as she began flapping her wings to lift into the air, "But I hope I still have wings when I do!"

Lucy grinned widely, "Me too, Skymomon. Maybe when you're bigger, you can take me for a ride through the skies."

"Yeah!" the monkey said enthusiastically.

"What are you two talking about?" Sora asked.

"Just wondering what Skymomon will turn into," Lucy said with a smile, her hands behind her head.

"That's a pretty good question," the older girl said as she turned to look at Biyomon who was trying to help wake Mimi. The girl in question was remaining stubbornly asleep though, pulling her hat down over her eyes.

"Oh, wow," the pink haired girl said from beside Sora, "If I tried to sleep like that, my dad would pour water on my face. Especially if we needed to go somewhere."

"Hmm, you think we should try it on Mimi?" the redhead asked.

"Nah," Lucy shook her head, "Not like we know where we're going anyways. Might as well, let her wrestle for another couple minutes of sleep, until everyone's ready."

"I suppose," Sora said. Lucy was already moving towards the rest of the group, Skymomon gliding along behind her. She, TK, and the digimon then made a bit of a game of trying to wake up Palmon's partner.

+-9

An hour later, the kids were walking through the forest again, no particular direction in mind, just making sure they didn't back track. All around them in the forest were more road signs that seemed to serve no purpose. If not for the sounds of the kids' footsteps and the general hum of nature around them, the world would be silent.

At least it was.

"Wha, hey!" Sora called to the rest of the kids, to get them to stop their march. The sound of... something flying through the air had caught not only her attention.

"Whoa! Did you hear that?" Tai asked. Almost as soon as the boy asked, some dark shape, moving too fast for Lucy to get a good look, flew over head.

"It seems to be some sort of aircraft," Matt said as he stepped up on the root of a tree that was pushing up out of the ground.

"It looked like a big, flying gear," Sora told the group.

"Admit it," Izzy said with a smirk, "My theory is becoming more plausible."

"Yeah," Joe said with energy, "The hit us with an antigravity ray to make us all crooked!" He paused, "Or maybe that sign's just crooked."

As the tallest in the group was speaking, the shortest was trying to climb up to stand with the others. He placed his foot on a smaller root as a foot hold and began to lift himself up. The root snapped and he began to fall backwards. His cry of fear got the attention of the others as it felt like something grabbed him.

"TK!" Sora cried out.

"Watch it!" Matt told the little guy as he and Tai ran over to make sure he was okay. Tai actually lifted the green hat wearing boy into the air to check him for injuries.

"Wah, that was scary," he said from Tai's hold.

"That could have been a snake," Tai told him, "Or worse!"

"Oh boy, I'm sorry," the boy apologized for being reckless before turning to the pink bird digimon, "Hey, Biyomon, are there really snakes here?"

"No," the bird said happily, "Just giant, flying, killer bugs and other unpleasant digimon."

"Don't you worry, TK," Patamon said as he flew up to his partner, "I'll take care of them!"

TK just pulled the wing ears creature in for a hug of gratitude, laughing childishly as he did so.

"Okay," the helmet wearing girl began with a smile, "Now that that's settled, let's get going."

"Nothing's settled," Matt argued, "And where would we go? We don't even know where we are."

"This is silly," Tai shrugged off their familiar argument, "I say we keep moving and see if we can find signs of intelligent life here." Sora sighed at that comment, knowing Tai hadn't meant it as an insult to the digimon, but that was certainly what it sounded like.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Biyomon said, "Is he saying that digimon are not intelligent? Is that he's saying?"

"Not at all," Sora told the bird digimon, "But I think Tai is right. We need to keep moving in hopes of finding out where we are," Biyomon rubbed her head against Sora, "We need to stay calm and stick together," she said with a smile.

"Together sound good!" Biyomon agreed.

"We can do it!" Sora said with a closed eyes smile, "This'll take teamwork! And I'm sure we'll find out exactly where we are, and how to get back! There's no point in splitting up, because then, when somebody did figure it out, we'd-"

"Hey, Sora?" Biyomon interrupted, "Open your eyes."

Opening her eyes at her digimon's request, Sora found herself left behind from the rest of the group. She frowned a little and called out to them.

"Well thanks a lot for waiting!" She ran a little to catch up with the group.

"Moving right along, folks!" Matt said with his best tour guide voice as the two stragglers caught up, "Keep it moving! The next stop on our tour is the forest of irrelevant road signs. No pictures, please!"

Lucy, walking backwards, continued the joke, "To your left you'll see the world famous No Parking Before Six AM sign, and to your right we have one of our masterfully crafted One Way sign pointing up a tree. Next is a Bus Stop sign in a thorn bush."

TK and Mimi giggled, while Matt just grinned at her.

'_We're lost and these guys are making jokes,_' Sora quailed mentally.

"Hey, wait up!" Joe called, "My shoe lace is broken!"

"You need new shoes," Mimi told him, then got a rather starry eyed look on her face as sh clasped her hands together, "Oooh, new shoes!"

Slowing up like Joe requested, Matt, who was still leading the group for the time being, began to look around. Off to the right, through the trees covered in more conflicting One Way, Stop, and Yield signs, was flat expanse of desert.

"Look!" Matt told the others, "Telephone poles!" Interspersed through out the desert there were indeed telephone poles, roughly every thirty feet, "I say we follow them and see where they lead."

"They'll just lead to trouble," Joe said pessimistically, though he didn't stay behind as the kids walked out from the cover of the trees.

As they stepped on the sands it was just in time to see the black shape flying towards a mountain a little ways off that was oddly shaped.

"Look!" Izzy made sure they all saw it, "It's the alien saucer again!"

"And it's headed for a close encounter!" Matt said, seeing it about to hit the mountain that looked like that ring stacking toy you'd give to a baby. Not even a second after he said that, the thing hit the top of the mountain causing an explosion of dust.

"Do you think it meant to do that?" Lucy asked Izzy.

"Well," Joe interrupted before Izzy could begin to theorize, "I don't think we should borrow anymore trouble than we've already got. Let's just hope those aliens know what they are doing and leave us alone."

Lucy could agree with that and so could the others. So, they began their journey through the desert.

It wasn't long at all before the children discovered that, while it may be temperate in the shade, the desert was hot enough to fry an egg.

Izzy moaned pitifully as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

"Why, it's so hot I can feel the heat coming up through my socks," the littlest member of the group said.

"Well, TK, maybe you should put your shoes back on," his brother told him.

Mimi whined aloud, fanning herself with one hand, "This hot desert air is ruining my complexion! How much further is it?"

"Is that all you're worried about, Mimi?" Joe asked incredulously, "We'll be lucky if we even survive this hike!"

"Hey, does anyone besides me see that these telephone poles have no connecting wires?" Sora pointed out.

"She's right," Izzy noted, "I wonder if these actually are telephone poles. Maybe they're some odd, alien equivalent."

"Hey," Mimi said, putting a finger to her chin, "Remember those phone booths? And that street car?"

"Yeah," Izzy urged, "What about 'em?"

"Oh, nothing," the girl said with a smile, "I was just wondering if anyone else remembered."

"Nope," Lucy drawled, eyes half lidded, "Not ringing any bells."

"Really, cause at the beach with the phone booths we were attacked by Shellmon, and at the trolley-"

"Sarcasm, Skymomon, sarcasm," Lucy stopped her partner from going on.

"That's it!" Joe cried, "Doomed! The heat has baked our brains and we're all gonna end up like roasted piglets!" The group stopped to stare at their designated worry wart, a couple of them even contemplating the possibility of if he was right.

"Just remain calm, Joe, we've only been walking for two minutes," the computer whiz said placatingly.

"Psst! Izzy, come here, Izzy," Tentomon tried to whisper, "I think we better find some shade for Joe, and quick."

Mimi however had another plan. She walked up behind the blue haired boy with a smile on her face, "You wont believe what happened to my favorite watch."

"What?" Joe asked, temporarily distracted.

"The sun melted the numbers right off!" She grinned as she held up another compass. The entire group crouched down around her to see which way the device pointed out for north.

"Mimi, for someone who hates hiking, you sure have a lot of compasses," Tai pointed out.

Unfortunately the device proved useless. It seemed to try finding north for a moment then just spazzed out, the needle spinning around so quickly that it became a red blur. The cause Mimi to gasp in despair.

"Of course, none of them actually work," Tai went on to say.

Izzy, always looking for a logical answer, noticed something shiny in the sand under their feet.

"Oh," he grabbed a handful of the silica and poured it out slowly, "This dirt contains small traces of metal, which could affect the compass needle."

"Oh well," Mimi shrugged, "I'm always late anyway."

"This is one weird world," Sora said as she stood up with her fists on her hips, "and I don't like it, one little bit!"

"I think we should start looking for water, guys," Izzy said as he too stood to his full height, "Otherwise, we could dehydrate in all this heat."

"Yeah," Tai agreed, "But we're doing okay for now aren't we?"

Mimi disagreed.

"Heeeeeelp! Somebody, please, find us!" She shouted to the sky. No answer was forthcoming though. No whirling helicopter blades, and no sounds of a motor coming to pick them up. As such the kids had no choice but to keep walking.

"It'll be okay, Mimi," Lucy said, taking the girl's hand, "We'll get through this, I'm sure!"

"I certainly hope so," Joe intoned.

Some minutes down the line, Izzy decided to share his findings with the group, "I've taken a soil sample, measured the the barometric pressure, and analyzed the relative humidity."

"And what did you find out?" Sora prompted him as they kept the pace.

"It's really, _really_ hot," the boy said simply, getting a sigh of disappointment from a few of the kids.

"Hang on just a little longer," Tai tried to encourage everyone, "Don't give up now."

Palmon was perhaps one of the worst off when it came to this dry heat, her shoulders were slumped, her arms hung limply at her sides, and her breathing was labored. The flower on her head even looked like it was wilting.

"We're gonna be okay," Mimi tried to sound more sure of that than she did, "Just keep moving along."

"My head is baking," the plant complained, "If this goes on too long, I'm going to look like a wilted salad."

Mimi then removed her hat letting her long brown locks fall out down to the middle of her back and placed the hat on Palmon's head, "Here, you wear my hat for a while. You need it more than I do."

"Thank you, Mimi," the digimon said sincerely.

"Pee-ew! What's that yucky smell?" TK complained.

Matt sniffed the air and gagged for a second, "Ugh! Here's a thought; now you no why they call them sweat socks."

"This beach would be a lot more popular if it just had a couple more things," Mimi began to ramble, "Like an ocean, a gentle breeze, snack bar, hunky lifeguards..." She giggled girlishly at that last one.

"Hold it!" Biyomon called, "I have to stop. I just don't think I can go any faster," the poor dear looked miserable. And she was not alone. All of the digimon and children were feeling the heat.

"You have to stay positive," Sora tried, "Let's all pretend that it's raining."

"Yeah!" Biyomon called enthusiastically, running up to Sora and nuzzling her with the side of her head, "That's a great idea! I simply adore the rain!"

"Me too," Matt said, "but it's time for a reality check. This isn't getting any better. It might be a good idea to turn around and get out of this desert, right now!"

"Mm-hmm!" Joe nodded his agreement.

"You mean before we all have a power outage?" Tentomon asked, "I'll vote for that."

"Wait," Tai told them as he walked to stand next to Matt, pulling out his miniature telescope, "Hold on for just a second, everybody." He closed one eye and looked intently through the scope, "If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing..."

"What is it, Tai?" Izzy asked, hoping it was not another digimon attack.

"It's not a mirage!" He said, twisting the ring at the front to zoom in, "It's real water!" That got everyone to perk up!

"Water?" Mimi asked with a hopeful smile.

"This is fantastic!" Joe said, placing one fist in his palm, "Now all we need is sugar, lemons, and some big, fat ice cubes!"

"That looks like a village," Izzy determined as he looked where Tai was, "Maybe we'll find people!"

"And shade," Palmon hoped.

"Maybe they'll have hats for sale," Mimi suggested, "Hang on."

"Water and food!" TK said, "I'm hungry enough to eat broccoli!"

"What's 'broccoli'?" Patamon asked as he took to the air beside the little boy, "Is that a joke?"

"Great!" Tai finally said as he pulled the telescope from his eye, "Let's get out of this desert!" A chorus of cheers was the reply to that idea and the kids made all due haste for the settlement Tai had spotted.

Ten minutes would take them to the shockingly small outskirts of the village. The huts they had seen from a distance were actually small enough for just one Yokomon a piece. Which was fortunate, as it was an entire village of the little critters.

"Whoa," were the thoughts of Joe, Mimi, and TK as they looked over the digimon.

"From so far away, everything looked so big," Tai tried to justify.

"But they're so cute and tiny!" Mimi gushed.

"Okay, question," Biyomon asked the little flower headed digimon that would evolve into Biyomon like her some day, "Who here knows where we can get a drink?"

One of the Yokomon in the back bounced up to be seen as she spoke, "And just what do giant digimon drink?" It was looking at Sora standing next to the bird digimon as it asked.

"Me?" Sora asked, pointing at herself, "I'm no digimon."

"My friend, Sora, is what's called a human being," Biyomon gestured to the girl with one wing, "Yes, we know they look funny. In spite of this they are all actually very nice!"

"What's a human being?" another Yokomon asked.

"If you are not digimon, what are you doing here in Digiworld?" another asked, getting a chorus of agreement from the others.

"This is great," Joe groused, "There is no way we're all going to fit into this place."

"Relax, Joe," Tai told him as he bent over to look at the Yokomon with a grin, "At least the natives here are friendly."

"Which is a sight better than almost every other digimon we've run into," Lucy added as she crouched down next to Skymomon to look at the Yokomon while the Yokomon looked at her.

"Oh my," Mimi gushed again, "I would just love to take one home and put it on my bet with all my other stuffed animals."

Matt had to stop himself from heaving a sigh, "Hmph! There she goes again. Do you think Mimi hears the same things we here? I'm not sure anymore."

Izzy, walking around the village and looking it over, said, "Maybe she's an alien spy."

Hovering in place, Patamon said, "TK is tired and hungry!"

"He's not the only one," Joe complained.

"Biyomon, when did you Digivolve?" One of the Yokomon asked the bird digimon as they all surrounded her. Wondering what was going on, the digimon's partner walked over and sat down behind one of the miniature huts to rest and listen.

"When I met Sora. We share a special bond that is magical!" Biyomon explained happily.

"You don't talk like us anymore," one of the little ones pointed out, "Is that how all Biyomon talk?"

"No, it's how the big ones talk. I suppose I just picked it up from Sora," Biyomon said proudly, "She is a wonderful and kind human being, and I've already learned a lot from her!" The girl in question couldn't help but smile at that.

"We still don't understand how you digivolved," the lead Yokomon questioned, "What is it about being around human beings that makes it happen?"

Biyomon would have smiled if her beak allowed it, but she came as close as she could anyway, "Sora needed me, I had to protect her."

"She had to protect me?" Sora mumbled as Biyomon kept up her explanation, "Wait a sec. Now I get it. That's why she's always following me around!" she turned her gaze skyward again as she thought, '_When Tai needed it, Agumon Digivolved to Greymon to protect him, and Garurumon did the same for Matt!_ _They Digivolve for us!_' Her realization brought a smile to Sora's face, "We're lucky kids!"

"Sora," Biyomon prodded her gently with a single claw, "We're invited to dinner with the Yokos. They said they'd be willing to share their food with all of us!"

"Oh, wow!" Sora gave, smiling appreciatively at the little pink digimon.

"Let's see hands if you want lemonade!" Joe called out as the group gave a collective sound of excitement at the prospect of a meal and a drink to go with it.

"I wonder what Yokomon eats," TK queried.

"I'll take a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake!" Tai said with a wistful grin.

Izzy put a hand to his chin as he actually thought about TK's point, '_I wonder what the will be serving. Perhaps some bone with meat? Lettuce topped with fish? Or-_'

"Water!" TK yelled out, interrupting the techie's thought train, "Water!" He went running by.

"Water?" Izzy asked eagerly.

"Look everybody! A fresh water fountain! Hooray!" The little boy ran up to a spout in the middle of the village that had two distinct arcs of water coming out of the top and pooling in the bottom. It look clear and cool and delicious.

"Oh," one of the Yokomon said, hopping up on the lip of the fountain, "the water here is pumped in from a spring at Mihurashi Mountain," she explained, "It's the best water in the world!"

"Forget the world," Tentomon said from beside TK, "Mount Mihurashi water is the best in all the galaxy!"

"Where's Mount Mihurashi?" TK asked the bug.

"Out there!" The Yokomon answered as one, turning to look back in the direction TK and friends had come from.

"Hey, that's a live Volcano!" TK pointed out, seeing smoke come from the top of the mountain.

"Yes, but the heat boils away all the germs," the lead Yokomon explained.

Before the children could even attempt to take a drink of the great looking water, the earth began to rumble and the spout of water began to wane.

"If I'm not mistaken that noise proceeds an eruption!" Izzy called out, just as the fountain spewed out a pillar of flame that nearly roasted TK, Izzy, Tai, Sora, and Joe.

"That's cool, but I still didn't get a drink," TK whined.

"What is happening?" Tai asked from where he'd fallen on his rump.

"The water evaporated," one Yokomon said.

"That's okay, because the lake is always full of water," another stated.

Lucy looked to where there was a cargo ship that was supposed to be mostly submerged in water, "Uh-oh."

"I'll check it out," Tai said.

"Let's all go," Matt reasoned, and the children and their digimon ran towards the rim of the lake.

Lucy closed her eyes as she approached, hoping against hope that she wasn't right about this. Opening her eyes, she didn't find what she hoped.

"Awe man!" Lucy groaned, "Murphy's Law strikes again!"

"The water's all gone," Izzy said with some distress.

"Goodness! Where did it all go?" Mimi asked.

"Someone pulled the plug!" TK supplied.

"Alright, let's not panic," Tai told them, leading them back to a well he saw in a main part of the village. He grabbed the bucked and rope and through it down, hoping to hear a splash of water, Instead they heard the sound of dust being kicked up.

"Dry as a bone!" Matt quailed.

"I wont give up!" the goggle wearing boy determined. He rapidly pulled the bucked up by the rope, only to get a scorched rope tip where the bucket had been burned off, "Huh?" he had only half second's notice before another roaring pillar of flame shot out from the well, sending him into a goofy little panicked dance.

"Look! Tai's doing a little dance for us!" Mimi pointed out with a smile on her face despite all that happened, "Is that supposed to stop the fire or bring down the rain?" she giggled.

"I think it's the 'I nearly lost my eyebrows to an inferno' dance," Lucy said.

"Hey!" Matt said, hitting an epiphany, "Do you remember that flying gear we saw earlier?"

Izzy nodded, "It crashed right into a hillside."

"Great!" Sora complained, "Of all the hillsides out there, the gear crashes into Mihurashi Mountain!"

"That's the place where the water comes from," Joe reminded them.

Izzy turned his eyes down in thought, holding a yellow gloved hand to his mouth.

"That's right," a Yokomon said, "The water comes from a lake on the top of Mount Mihurashi. So, a gear crashing into the mountain could affect out water supply."

"Mm-hmm!" This confirmed exactly what Izzy was saying.

"We don't dare go up there," the Yokomon warned, however, "The mountain is guarded by a fiery digimon called Meramon! He's hideously dangerous!"

Tai frowned at this as he walked by, tossing his telescope up and down. He decided to take a look through to see of there was any hint of what was going on, "I want a closer look at that mountain," Through the scope he could see a great fire blazing out of the top, and a yellow mote of light working its way down the side, "You say this Meramon character is a fiery digimon? What does he look like?" Tai's eye widened when he zoomed in on the yellow mote to see a man made of fire surfing down the side of the mountain, "Never mind, there he is! He's coming! He's coming right this way!"

"He burns up everything he touches!" the Yokomon panicked, "He never comes down off the mountain though. This is very strange behavior for him!"

In the distance they could hear the fiery creature yelling out in pain, "Help! I'm burning! Too hot!"

"Meramon is the fiery digimon," Palmon said with a confused frown, "There's no reason he should be in pain from his own flames! That's his nature!"

"This is weird," Tai said as he heard the creatures sobs all the way from the mountain, "He's crying!"

"Burning!" Meramon wailed.

"It sounds like he's out of his mind with pain," Sora said.

"What do we do?" Tai asked, not sure if there was anything they could do.

"Burning! Burning! Buuurniiing!" the poor fire man digimon continued to cry.

"Look! He's coming straight towards the village!" Sora called out.

"Hey, everybody, we better decide what we should do! He's already at the foot of the mounain and entering the forest! I've never seen him move so fast!" the lead Yokomon yelled for everyone to hear. Meramon's mere presence among the trees was enough to set the forest ablaze.

"Everybody, Freeze!" Sora ordered quickly, "Stay very still."

Not a single soul moved a fraction of an inch as Meramon kept approaching without losing an ounce of speed.

"You're gonna need more than sunscreen to stop me! Heha ha!" the monster laughed manically.

"Don't move a muscle," Sora assured them.

"Rrrrrrrgh! Burn! Burn! BURN!" Meramon roared out as he broke out of the trees.

Tai couldn't take it anymore as he saw the fiery man sprinting forward with all speed, "Unfreeze! And Ruuuun!"

As one, the entire village turned around and ran towards the pit that was left of the lake. It was a bull rush to get to the empty cargo hold of the boat. It was like a living river of pink and blue as all the Yokomon hopped forward with fear induced speed. Tentomon was being carried by a sprinting Izzy, Patamon was riding on TK's head, neither digimon very sure they could fly fast enough to get away from the monster before it got to the village. They could hear his manic, pained laughter getting ever closer.

At the bottom of the lake, there was a big hole in the hull of the cargo ship that the Yokomon were streaming into. Tai and Sora stood on either side of the hole, ushering the little digimon in.

"Come on! Keep it moving!" Tai yelled.

"All the way to the back!" Sora instructed.

Matt, Mimi, and Palmon were leading the little creatures onto the deck of the ship.

"Okay, settle down!" Matt called out over the panicking digimon, "There's room for all of you, will you please stop squirming!" He was taking them one by one and helping them into free spaces.

Joe walked up, carrying Gomamon in his arms, and a dozen Yokomon on his back, "Here's the next batch, Matt." Lucy was right behind him, carrying a fare share in her arms, one even sitting in her hood.

"Easy now!" Tai told the swarm, "You'll be okay."

"Who's not here?" Sora asked as TK and Izzy ran into the ship with their digimon. She gasped when she realized who was missing, "This is bad!" she remembered Biyomon specifically saying she would take care of the Yokomon. Turning to look at the lip of the dry lake, she could see the pink bird digimon ushering the Yokomon down the side of it, "Come on, come on!"

"Everyone keep moving now," Biyomon told the smaller creatures, "Just follow the one in front of you!"

"Biyomon! Save yourself! Come down while there's still time!" Sora yelled to her friend.

"I can't leave here 'til all my friends are safe, Sora," Biyomon called back.

"Alright," Sora said, understanding that, "I guess I'll just have to come up there after you then!" but she still didn't want to sit back and do nothing while Biyomon could get hurt.

"Hurry!" Tai was beginning to get anxious himself as the Yokomon stream never seemed to end, "Sora! You'll never make it!" He called after the girl.

"Where is Sora going?" Joe asked.

"Sora! Come back!" Matt yelled, trying to stop the girl.

"Meramon's in the village!" Lucy yelled from the bow of the ship, pointing into the village. That just caused Sora to run all that much harder.

The last of the Yokomon made their way down the steep edge of the lake, and Biyomon breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, they're all safe now." She didn't hear Meramon as he stepped up behind her.

"Watch out! Biyomon he's right behind ya!" Sora cried, but it only served to get Biyomon to turn around just as the man made of fire was right on her tail feathers.

"Raaagh!" the digimon roared out his pain.

"Go away Meramon! Leave us alone!" Biyomon tried to order the fiery monster, "We're not bothering you!"

His replay was to slap the bird digimon out of the air.

Biyomon cried out in pain as she rolled down the incline.

"Biyomon!" Sora cried running forward, "Biyo! I'm coming Biyo!"

Meramon just glared down at them as Sora dived forward to catch Biyomon before she hit the ground.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked after a second, pushing herself off the ground with her arms and looking at her partner.

"I guess so," The digimon said, "I hope I never do that again. It wasn't very fun."

Despite the situation, or perhaps because of it, Sora had to chuckle at that little statement. She gathered the bird in her arms and stood up, turning around to go back to the boat.

"Thank you for coming to rescue me, Sora," Biyomon told her.

"Don't mention it, that's what a friend is for."

"You can say that again," Biyomon said with her eyes upturned in happiness, "My friend!"

Meramon was apparently tired of waiting around, though. He growled as he held up one flaming hand and began to focus the heat of his flames into a point just about his palm. A mote of yellow light quickly grew into a fireball.

"Uh-oh! We're still in great danger, Sora!" Biyomon told her partner.

"What?"

"You stay here. It's my turn to rescue you now!" She jumped from the human's arms and took to the air. Once she was in front of Meramon she proceeded to say, "You think you're really hot stuff! Well, you're in trouble now! _Spiral Twister!_" The swirling green flame spewed from her beak and hit Meramon in the chest.

Lucy was prepared to see an attack having no effect before Digivolution yet again. Instead, as soon as the green flames hit him Meramon was nearly doubled over in pain and clutched his chest.

"She's doing it," she breathed, "Yeah! Go Biyomon! Knock him flat!" she cheered.

"Okay, big red, take that!" Another Spiral Twister hit, "And that!" another, "And that!" yet another, each one, causing Meramon to cringe back further. Unfortunately, as much as it was doing, the monster was able to stand up straight again.

"Is that the best you have to offer, weakling?" he was speaking out of the corner of his mouth, his lips sewn shut by some kind of fire proof thread and his solidly blue eyes glinting dangerously.

"We've got to help her out!" Tai said from the bottom of the lake, "He's too big to handle!"

"Yeah!" Izzy agreed as the groups digimon ran out to help with the fight.

"_Fire Palm!_" Meramon roared, gathering another fireball in his hand, "Catch!" he threw it point blank at Biyomon.

"Oh no! She's hit!" Sora cried as she watched her friend fall to the ground. There was no way she could get there in time to save her this time. Sora sank to her knees, her head bowed, "Biyomon..."

"Wah!" Lucy had to duck down as the fireball passed through the air where she just was, "Hey! Watch where you throw those things! Go get 'im, Skymomon!"

"Come on, everyone! We can beat that monster!" Tai yelled.

"What we need is teamwork!" Izzy agreed.

"I'm ready! Give me your best shot!" Meramon called down to them with a smirk on his face.

Agumon stepped up first, sending his own fireball at the flame digimon. Gabumon next, blue fire streaming from his mouth. Then Patamon and Skymomon, with a Boom Bubble and a Whirlwind Fist respectively. Tentomon went last, trying to zap the flaming monster with his Super Shocker.

But all of their attacks were worse than useless. Way worse. With ever attack that struck him, Meramon absorbed the energy and grew bigger and bigger till he was large enough to take on Greymon in a fist fight. He started out only slightly taller than a regular man.

"We need a fire extinguisher!" Joe yelled out.

"That made him bigger," Matt pointed out, the others only able to stare in fear for their lives.

"Why do I suffer so!?" Meramon cried out, his fists clenched and his flames hotter than ever.

"If we knew why he was crying, it might help to stop him!" Tai exclaimed rather logically.

"Fire's not affecting him," Izzy said, "I'm guessing it's not heartburn."

"Maybe this monster just has growing pains," Matt suggested.

"Growing pains?" Izzy asked dryly.

"Matt! This is not a time to joke!" Joe complained.

Meramon's manic laughter started up again, "Get ready! Here I come!" He began to surf down the side of the lake the way he had Mount Mihurashi.

Around this time, Biyomon regained consciousness with a pained groan, "Uhh, Sora?"

The girl in question was still wallowing in her despair, her head down.

"We're all in trouble now," the pink bird digimon spoke to herself, "Meramon can not be allowed to win! My friends need my help now!" She stood up and turned to face the monster fire digimon. She began to glow with a red light, and the device on the back of Sora's belt let out a now familiar high pitched keening.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" Biyomon went from being a cute little pink bird to a giant blue eyes firebird. It had two antennae coming out of the top of its head and a curved beak with sharp teeth protruding from the sides. Like Garurumon and Greymon, the firebird was unnaturally large, able to stand toe to toe with the massive fire digimon.

Birdramon used that size to her advantage too, forcing Meramon back up the slope with her own brute strength. Once at the top, she dropped him off and flew higher up.

Sora finally looked up, her eyes wide with wonder at the creature her friend Biyomon had become, "We'll be safe now," she breathed, "Biyomon Digivolved to rescue us."

"Huh?" Meramon growled as the monstrous bird swooped by, "What's wrong, Birdramon? Scared of me? Let's fight!" He roared, gathering another fireball in hand and throwing it at the digimon's back, "Here, have a ball! Hahahaha!"

It hit Birdramon right between the wings, generating a caw of pain from the giant bird.

"Don't turn your back on him!" Sora advised. Birdramon complied immediately, turning back around and swooping in.

Meramon just threw more fireballs at the bird as she approched, each explosion causing the air to shake, "Here, have another! Take as many as you can get! Raaah!"

"Back off of him, Birdramon, get some space between you!" Again the monster bird followed the orders of her trainer, backing off from the fiery digimon.

Once she was far enough way, dodging more fireballs the whole way, Birdramon gathered all the necessary heat for her special attack. Her wings began to glow with the light of her magical fire and gathered at her feather tips and, when she flapped her wings forward, a half dozen streaks of purifying fire shot towards Meramon.

Thinking he could take it and just grow stronger still, the monster stood there, chest puffed out proudly, "Come on! Do your worst! I'll take everything you- Gahh!" He shouted in pain as the streaks of fire hit him in the chest one after the other, doubling him over. Suddenly he rapidly shrank back to his normal size, and a black gear shot out of his back into the sky where it then exploded.

"It was the gear!" Izzy exclaimed from the ground.

"What is it?" Patamon asked.

"It made him crazy!" the tech genius went on to say.

"Right!" Tai said simply.

"I wonder if the other digimon had any of those in them when they attacked us," Lucy pondered.

"I don't know," Matt said, "But I doubt having a big gear in your back would make you very sane either, the poor guy."

"Yay!" TK shouted, throwing his hands in the air, "Biyomon did it!" The kids smiled as they realized that, yet again, they had won this fight.

Birdramon swooped down over the lake with one final caw of victory, before turning into Biyomon.

"Wow," Sora breathed as her partner digimon glided down to her, "You were great Biyomon! Every time I'm in danger you come right to my rescue! That's what I call a friend!"

"Are you alright? Oh, Sora!" She launched herself into the girls open arms, the two of them hugging in celebration.

"I was so worried about you, Bi," Sora told the bird while they held onto one another, "You're great! I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you!"

"I wasn't afraid at all," Biyomon explained, "All I could think about was saving you, because... you know."

"Aw," Sora cooed and held on tighter to her digimon, to her friend.

Not long after Meramon returned to proper size, the gouts of flames spewing from the well, and the fires in the forest and on top of Mount Mihurashi all faded away. Luckily the water only slowly trickled back into the lake, giving everyone more than enough time to get back to the village.

Once there, the Meramon began to slowly wake back up, and the kids and their digimon hoped he didn't still want to fight.

"Oh, my aching head!" he groaned, placing a hand on his flaming skull as he sat up slowly.

"Why did you attack us, Meramon?" The lead Yokomon asked, "What made you come down off of your mountain?"

"Huh?" he opened his eyes and looked around blearily, "What am I doing here? Wait, what do you mean I attacked you?"

"Yeah, you nearly roasted us all alive, big guy," Tai explained, "You came running down off your mountain, crying about how much it burnt."

"Oh my! I don't remember any of this. Last thing I remember is..." the flame digimon looked to the sky, "I remember this giant black gear flying right for me. Next thing I know I'm here."

Izzy and Tai exchanged looks, "That actually explains quite a lot. If you put something foreign into a human body, our immune system will fight against it really aggressively, giving us a fever. Perhaps the same thing happened here."

"I hope I didn't hurt anyone," Meramon spoke.

"No," Sora said, "but we had a few close calls there. Luckily, Biyomon was here to save the day," She beamed at her partner.

Biyomon blushed and giggled at the praise.

A few minutes later Meramon was making his way back to Mount Mihurashi.

"Good bye, Meramon, and always be well! And try not burn down our village again, okay?" a Yokomon called helpfully.

"And watch out for anymore black gears!" Mimi shouted.

"Hey," Biyomon said, from her place in Sora's arms, "I just remembered you never got that dinner I promised you. You must be starving!"

TK nodded and held his stomach, "My tummy is ready for some action."

"I could definitely use some comfort food after that little experience," Lucy said.

Not even five minutes later the Yokomon brought out bowls full of the stuff they usually ate, bringing extra for all of their guests.

"What is this stuff?" Tai asked, looking into the bowl full of bird seed.

"Just eat it," Mimi said surprisingly, "It would be rude to turn away your hosts cooking."

"I don't think this stuff was cooked."

"I bet it tastes better than broccoli," TK said before digging in to his own bowl.

"Hey, did anyone else notice we talk about food a lot?" Matt asked as he chowed down on a handful of seeds.

Lucy sighed a little in disappointment, but still tried to eat what was put before her, "I'd rather have a mountain of ice cream, but I guess this will do."

"Uh..." Sora said uncertainly as she looked into her bowl and one of the Yokomon smiled at her.

"Go ahead and eat all you want, we have plenty, so enjoy yourselves," she said.

"You know, there's probably a reason for that," Joe said.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Sora said.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Biyomon asked from beside her.

"Yeah, just not hungry."

"Same here," Joe said, "I can never eat on an empty stomach. Besides, I don't even know what that stuff is, but I'm sure I'm allergic to it."

This started a snicker, which turned into a laugh, which spread like a plague to the kids and digimon that knew him. It was a laugh born of anxiety, fear, and, most of all, relief after the days events. It may not have been what Joe intended the comment to be, but it served the purpose of really getting the kids to relax at the end of a taxing day.

Hopefully the next day wouldn't bring anymore giant fire monsters or big bugs with attitude problems!

Chapter Four: End.

Please Enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5 Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker

Chapter Five: Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker

Leaving the Yokomon village was not a leisurely choice. Honestly, none of the kids wanted another meal of seed and water. They politely turned down breakfast to make their way back out into the rest of the island. As nice as the Yoko's were, even if they had real food, the kids still wanted to find their way home. Lucy in particular was not eager to get going.

"You know," she said from beside Joe, "we should really invest in some water bottles or something."

Joe nodded, "You've got a point, but does anyone have anything we could use like that?"

Matt shook his head, "All I've got is my harmonica."

"Nothing like that in here," Mimi sighed while sifting through her bag.

"I'm afraid not," Izzy said.

"I've got a bottle of medicine that could be used, but I don't know if we want to dump that out. We might need it later," Sora explained as she held up the bottle from her emergency pack.

Lucy heaved a sigh, "Oh, well, maybe we can find something around the island to use. Let's just hope it doesn't come with another mad digimon."

"Yeah," Skymomon agreed.

"So which way are we headed?" Matt asked as they stood at the edge of the Yokomon village, "I don't know about any of you, but I really don't want to go back through that desert."

"How about that way?" Tai asked, pointing to the other side of the village, beyond the lake, "I can see a few trees that way, maybe it bleeds over into a forest."

"Forests are good," Joe responded with a happy grin.

"Yeah, if you forget all about the pest problem," Sora told him.

"Aw, why'd you have to remind me?" Joe complained.

"Pests aside, I have to agree with Joe," Lucy said, "I'd face down Kuwagamon again if it got us out of this blistering heat!" That got some agreement from the group and they finally made their way into the wild yonder.

+-9

Tai had indeed seen a tree. And every few hundred feet another one could be seen, but, for the most part, it was just more of the same old desert. Sure, there was a bit more grass, and the sun wasn't beating down as hard, but that just meant they could walk a little farther before needing a break and feel more tired doing it.

"We've passed this place before," Sora said around noon, looking closely at the few trees that dotted the landscape. It all looked the same at this point.

"You mean we've walked around the whole planet?" Joe suggested.

"That just can't be," Mimi despaired, collapsing onto her hand and knees, "I can't walk that far, can I? I'm so tired!" Right next to her, Palmon was looking more than a little worn down.

And they weren't the only ones. Gomamon was suffering from the lack of water, his skin drying out and his body beginning to overheat. TK was trudging along just behind the digital seal, hunched over with exhaustion. He finally collapsed backwards onto his butt, with Patamon landing on his knees to make sure he was okay.

"My feet are hot," the little guy complained.

"Looks like we're takin' a break," Matt said, his arms crossed as he looked over the four of their group that had collapsed.

"Well," Sora began, "it's not like we have someplace to be."

"I guess you're right," Tai nodded, "There's no reason to hurry."

Lucy sighed thankfully, sinking to her knees and letting out a heavy sigh of relief, "Thank goodness," she breathed, "My legs feel like wet noodles."

"Huh? Are you okay, Lucy?" Joe asked with genuine concern, "You're not getting heat stroke, are you?"

"No, no," Lucy said with a sheepish grin, "I'm just feeling the burn. We've been walking around this Island for three days now, practically nonstop. I'm just not used to it yet. Mimi is probably worse off than I am."

"If you're sure," the tall boy said, standing back up straight.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, just give me a couple minute's rest," she assured him. Skymomon had landed next to her, looking rather tired herself after all her flying.

Across the way, Izzy was already making use of the break to check on his equipment.

"Come on, come on!" he urged under his breath as his laptop began it patented Pineapple start up. Then at the last second, it crashed yet again, turning off on it's own, "Aw man, still no good."

"Check out Izzy!" Matt called, seeing the boy typing away at his computer, "I bet he's trying to email the aliens."

"I bet he's asking them to beam him up," Tai said with a chuckle.

Izzy just ignored the two of them.

"Darn, It's still not working, and the warranty's expired," the boy exclaimed with a hint of lament. Tai came over then and snatched the laptop away.

"Hey, I know how to get it working," and he began beating it with his hand, "You just gotta give it a couple subtle adjustments."

"Hey! Stop that!" Izzy cried, snatching the computer back and holding it in his arms protectively, "Are your brain cells malfunctioning!?"

"What's the deal, Izzy? It's just a dumb computer," Tai told the boy who was glaring at him like he'd just kicked a puppy.

"Too bad you're brain isn't as big as your hair," Sora told the boy with her hands held on her hips like a scolding parent, "Maybe Izzy doesn't want smudges and dents on his computer."

"Huh?" Tai looked genuinely puzzled at the concept, crossing his arms and looking away in a huff. He'd just been trying to help, after all. No need to start talking like his mother.

And then, while he was looking off to the side, he noticed something that could be promising.

"Hey, look!" Tai called out to the group, "Do you guys see that smoke over there? I'll check it out!" He began to run forward.

"Wait for me, Tai!" Agumon told the boy, running after his friend and partner.

"The attention span of a gnat," Joe observed while standing under the shade of one of the lone trees in the area. The other kids, Mimi, TK, Lucy and Matt, were also there, the first three still sitting down and making the most of this break.

"Ah, whatever," Matt groused.

Izzy was still doing his best to get his computer to run correctly. To the others it may have looked like he was just typing randomly, but the sequence was something he'd figured out at a young age to help the program work. The start up sequence began again and he stopped typing, hoping for the best. Little pineapples danced across the screen for a moment and Izzy found reason to grin.

"We got graphics, we got sound," his grin grew wider, "Beautiful! Up and running!" A plaintive beep from his speakers let him know of another urgent problem though. He looked closer at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, "But it indicates the battery needs recharging..."

"Hey, everybody! Get over here!" Tai suddenly called out energetically.

"We're coming, Tai!" Sora shouted back, and the group ran towards him, expecting the worst possible scenario.

Instead, as they approached, they began to catch a glimp of smoke stacks, metal paneling, and large fuel tanks. When the whole group, digimon included, were standing right beside the wild haired boy, they could see a giant manufacturing plant in a quarry.

"Looks like some kind of factory," Joe said.

"Let's hope they can _manufacture_ a way for us to get home," Matt said.

"I just hope they make air conditioners," Lucy said.

"You and me both," Mimi agreed.

The kids didn't waste any time making their way down to the humongous building.

"I wonder what they _do_ make in there," Joe said with a hand on his chin.

"I don't know," Mimi told him, "but wouldn't it be great if there was a Manufacturer's Outlet Store? They always have killer deals!"

"Don't ask me how, but there doesn't seem to be anybody here," Matt said after a few minutes of searching around the humongous metal factory. Despite the lack of any other living presences, the gears were turning and the conveyor belts moving.

"There's gotta be someone running the equipment," Sora insisted.

"I don't know. It appears to be doing quite well all by itself," Izzy pointed out as they came to a viewing window of what the machines inside were building.

The conveyor belt would bring a large hunk of metal forward and three mechanical arms would come down out of the ceiling to place a piece at the top, front and side of the piece before moving it on and repeating the process with the next piece to roll down the line.

"Matt, what are the machines making?" TK asked his brother.

"You got me," the older boy shrugged, "Maybe parts for robots or space ships."

"Somebody's gotta be moving those belts, and people gotta eat!" Joe said, getting a little loud as he held his hands clenched into fists before him, "So, is there a cafeteria in this place? Because we could really use a good meal!"

"I can get behind that reasoning," Izzy said.

"Great!" Tai called out, "But where do we search?"

"Why don't we split up?" Lucy suggested, "We can go in two groups of four, and we'll meet back here if we find anything."

"Sounds good to me," Matt said, "I'll take TK with me. I kinda want to see what these parts are making."

"Me too!" Mimi said, raising her hand to volunteer to go with Matt and TK.

"I want to find that cafeteria," Lucy said, "The Yokomon were great, but bird seed isn't my favorite meal."

"Ditto," Sora said, moving to stand next to the pink haired girl and Joe.

"I'm kind of hungry too, so I'll go with you guys," Tai told them, his hands behind his head.

"I also want to see where this conveyor belt leads," Izzy said thoughtfully as he stared at the contraptions being built, "Perhaps I can find the power source of this factory and charge my lap top with it."

"That settles who's going where," Tai said with a grin, "So, let's get going. To the cafeteria!" with a fist pumped to the sky.

"The cafeteria!" the digimon repeated.

+-9

Not much time would it take for the groups to well and truly separate. Tai, Joe, Sora, Lucy, Agumon, Gomamon, Biyomon, and Skymomon could be found walking in a short procession on the walkways in a part of the facility near a large tank with lots of pipes running out of the top.

"Hellooooo!" Tai yelled out, "Anybody here?"

"Wait," Biyomon called, stopping the group, "Don't go any further in this direction."

"Huh? What's the matter with this direction?" Joe queried, "It's just as good as any other, isn't it?"

"No," Biyomon shook her head, "I heard something this way." Proving her point, a sound like massive, grinding gears filled the air sending a chill up the kids' spines.

"Sounds like someone threw a monkey wrench into an engine," Lucy stated with a wince at the loud sound.

"Doesn't sound good to me!" Tai agreed.

+-9

With Matt and his group, they had found a door marked 'Power Supply R.' They could assume some kind of generator was inside, but they weren't sure about entering.

"I say we go inside and have a look around," Patamon finally decided. The others were willing to go along with that seeing as none of them had a better idea. So, Matt grabbed the handle and slid the door to the right.

"Prodigious! With a battery like that, I could run my computer for a decade!" Izzy exclaimed upon seeing a humongous batter standing in the room. Pipes and wires fed the energy from the battery into the factory, that must have been what kept the lights on, "I wonder if I can tap into it's charge to power my lap top."

+-9

Heeding the advice of Biyomon, the kids and their digimon back tracked through the factory till they found another off shoot to take. Tai wasn't so much leading as he was just wandering the hallways. He seemed to have a determined gait to his steps, but that was mostly just his desire to find either some kind of food or human life.

He stepped past another corridor, not even bothering to look down it, solely focused on the path in front of him. A few steps behind him, the other three did look.

"Whoa, what's that?" Sora asked.

Stopping for a moment and leaning back to look the direction they were, Tai say what looked like a metal upper body passed out in a room at the end of the corridor.

"Looks like a robot," he said.

"Let's go check it out," Lucy said, "If we can turn it on, maybe we can get it to find the food for us."

"I like that plan," Skymomon said, following her partner into the room with the robot. The machine was rather humanoid in appearance. It had a metal helmet on it's head that kind of looked like a skull with large eye holes, and a human looking lower face. Black rubber lining started from where the ears would be and went down the side of his face to cover his chin. He had broad metal shoulders, with more mechanoid skull shoulder guards, and then upper arms. His lower arms were disproportionately large, long, and blocky, like large, metal rectangles. His hands were also metal, but distinctive in that his right hand was black, and his left hand silver. His chest was wide, and his waist thin. From their down he was caught in the factory's machinery.

"That's no robot," Gomamon told them, "That's Andromon."

"What?" Tai asked, surprised that even this thing was a digimon, "This big clunk is a digimon?"

"Yes," Agumon told him, "And very much advanced.

"Poor thing," Biyomon said compassionately, "It looks like he fell into those gears and that's how he got mangled."

"Maybe if we work together we can pull him out of there," Sora suggested.

"Uh, my mom doesn't really want me moving any heavy objects," Joe abdicated, "I've got bad knees."

"Don't worry about it Joe, we'll do the lifting," Tai said as he grabbed onto the shoulder of the robot.

"Right!" Lucy grabbed onto the head and Sora grabbed the other shoulder.

"Hey!" Joe complained, having hoped that would have gotten them to not want to pull out the metal monster.

+-9

Matt, Mimi and TK watched with their digimon as Izzy went about feeling around the giant battery. He'd already tried accessing the consoles next to it, but they wouldn't respond to him at all. He figured then that a battery of this size had to be mostly decoration, and the real working bits had to be inside of a panel of some sort.

"What are you doing, Izzy?" Matt asked.

"I'm trying to tap into this power source," he told matt simply, "If we can get this baby to fire up, we can use my computer to get some help."

+-9

Seeing that his complaints had gone ignored yet again, Joe decided to go ahead and help anyway. Together the four kids and their digimon grabbed onto the metal digimon's arms and began to pull.

Joe, Gomamon, Sora and Biyomon were on the left. Tai, Agumon, Lucy and Skymomon were on the right. The pulled with all their might, setting their feet into the floor and gritting their teeth with the effort.

"I think it's moving," Tai grit out, "Just a little more...Ah!" he cried out as his grip slipped and he fell backwards. He stumbled, trying to keep his balance and ran back first into a large lever that his body weight was enough to activate.

Electricity sparked off the wall of gears in front of them for a moment and Lucy thought she saw something move behind it, but brushed it off as the gears started turning. Tai got back up right away though, latching onto Andromon's arm, and pulled again with everything he had.

With one last struggle and a bit of elbow grease, the team had managed to pull the robot digimon free.

"Whew! That was tough!" Lucy said, bent over panting as she wiped her brow with one hand.

"Tell me about it," Joe said.

"Now we just need to fix him," Sora said.

"I got it!" Tai said with a grin, preparing to whack the digimon on the head.

"No, wait!" Joe called out as he and Sora quickly restrained the boy. Too bad Agumon was like minded with Tai. Instead of the human boy bashing the digimon in the head, Agumon did it, making a clang fill the air.

"Agumon! That's what we _didn't_ want Tai to do," Lucy groaned.

"What's the problem?" Tai asked, "Look, he's waking up, so it worked."

Indeed, Andromon quivered for a second, a humming noise coming from his closed mouth, before he ground out, "I am Andromon."

From the point of view of the digimon, the world was a field of static that was slowly coming into focus. His eyes opened, glowing blue, and he could see four strange beings standing inside the factory, digimon accompanying them. The blue haired being was speaking.

"There's this movie where a robot came to life and ate everyone," Joe began, trying to get the other kids to relate the danger of that situation to this one.

But Sora just blew him off, "He looks friendly enough," Andromon's target tracking system began to scan her, as she was the closest one to him while she spoke, "and I'm sure if we're nice to him, he'll be nice to us."

In response, Andromon wrapped a metal hand around Sora's ankle and lifted her into the air upside down as he stood up.

"Forget what I said about him being friendly!" Sora yelled out as she flailed in the mechanical thing's grasp. From her position she had a fine look at his legs, one completely machine, the other looking kind of like flesh from the knee down, with feet ending in three red claws.

"I shall punish alien intruders!" the mechanical monstrosity said in a loud modulated voice.

"Oh no!" Skymomon said, "Andromon is one of the most powerful Digimon of all! He's a real machin, never getting tired and capable of taking on almost any other digimon in the world!"

"Let's give him all we got!" Tai said and Biyomon flew into the air.

"_Spiral Twister!_" She called, sending her signature attack at the mechanoid. Andromon turned to see the source of the sound just in time to get a blast of green fire to the face.

"Gah!" He cried out, more shocked than hurt and whipped Sora through the air at Tai and Agumon. The girl screamed, expecting a hard landing, but luckily the combination of boy and digimon caught her to stop her from getting hurt, though not without being knocked on their rears.

Andromon approached steadily, his eyes still glowing that eery blue.

"Oh man," Lucy quailed, "What do we do?"

"Running sounds good to me!" Joe said, preparing to do just that.

"Agumon," Tai ordered, "Hit the ceiling with your Pepper Breath!"

The yellow dinosaur looked up, saw the girders strapped together and hanging from the ceiling and nodded, "Gotcha, Tai! _Pepper Breath!_" The ball of fire flew up past Andromon's head, and scorched the metal wires holding the girders up. The heat was enough to melt the wires and dump roughly six tons of metal on the robot digimon's skull.

"That's gonna hurt tomorrow," Lucy said, coming around the bile of girders and digimon.

"Then lets get out of here today," Sora said. No one else had a better plan, so turned around and ran back down the metal hallways, looking for the root back to the conveyor belt to warn the other kids and get the heck out of there.

+-9

TK, Matt and Mimi and their digimon had left Izzy back in the power supply room, sure that nothing untoward would happen to him there. And even if it did, it was right beside the conveyor belt so they could find their way back easily.

Right at that moment the three of them were watching the construction again. It added a handle, to the front, an exhaust pipe to the back, and put some large clunk piece on the top.

"This place would make a lot more sense if there was a tour guide to explain it," Mimi said, "You know, maybe with a little plaid outfit, and a bull horn."

Back in the room with the huge battery, Izzy had finally found a loose panel on the side of it.

"Aha!" he grinned, "I've located an access panel to the interior operations." He pulled it open and looked inside. He found, not wires and pipes and circuitry, but instead a perfectly circular room filled with strange markings. One area looked English, another Chinese, and the one across from the Swahili.

"Hey, let me see, Izzy," Tentomon said, coming up beside his brainy friend, "What exactly do you think this is?"

"These markings are binary annotations of some sort," Izzy theorized as they stepped into the giant battery, "A computer program," he explained further as he stepped closer to one set of symbols, looking at them closely, "A very complicated program indeed." He placed a gloved finger on the outside of one of the markings and drew it across, erasing one corner of it like dry erase marker. Immediately there was a reaction.

The lights shut off and the hum of machinery silenced.

At the conveyor belt, Matt, TK and Mimi were shocked when everything shut off.

Still running from where they left Andromon buried, the rest of the kids were forced to slow down as the darkness became almost absolute, not allowing them to see more than three or four feet ahead of them.

"Hey!" Tai groused, "Who turned out the lights?"

"I break out in hives in the dark!" Joe complained.

Lucy shushed them as she stopped and turned her attention back the way they came. She could hear something, it sounded like the foot steps of something big.

"What is it?" Sora asked in a whisper.

"I don't know, but it's coming right for us," she said, fear tinging her voice.

"Is it Andromon?" Joe asked nervously as two blue lights lit up at the end of the halway.

"Who knows, let's just get out of here," Tai said and began leading away from the lights, slowly and carefully.

After only a few seconds of this Joe asked, "Why are we sneaking around like this? Why don't we just run for it till we see sunlight?"

"Be quiet, Joe," Lucy hissed, "What if he hears you?"

Joe gulped audibly, but other than that didn't make anymore sound.

Not that it really mattered. Behind them by about fifty feet, Andromon growled as he acted his night vision filter on his eyes. He could very easily see the children as the creeped along, and it made his eyes glow with an eery red light.

"Intruders sighted," Andromon held his black hand before his chest and it began to spin in place until it looked like nothing more than a spinning black spike, "and Andromon doesn't like intruders!" He pulled his arms back over his head and shouted, "_Lightning Blade!_ Hrah!" He slashed his spinning hand forward, sending a glowing blue attack flying through the air at the children.

"Wha?" Sora intoned turning to look.

"Hit the deck!" Lucy shouted, helping Tai push the other just down the off shoot to the left. Just in time too. They bare hit the ground before the attack his the wall, causing a miniature explosion.

+-9

"That was a smoothe move, Izzy," the boy scolded himself, "Scratch that theory." He typed away rapidly at his computer, entering the data that he had observed to help him go over it in his mind, "Could I have possibly deleted the wrong program?"

Tentomon, standing at the panel and looking outside to see if the entire facility had gone dark, turned back to the boy, "I'll say. If you could just un-delete that particular program it would be greatly appreciated."

"Capital idea!" The boy said, his eyes alighting with realization. He quickly reached into his pocked and produced what looked like a marker and pulled off the cap, "A stroke of metallic paint, right here," he moved it to the symbol he had partially erased and very carefully reapplied the marking.

Almost immediately the lights turned back on and the factory kicked back into full swing.

Down the hallway, the conveyor belt switched back on with the lights and Mimi wondered, "They didn't pay their power bill, is that it?"

Matt shook his head, "You have no imagination, you know that?"

Izzy sat down on the floor of the battery interior and began typing rapidly as he looked around the room, entering the lines of code written on every wall into his computer.

"That's rather mysterious," he said.

"And just what is so mysterious, if I may ask?" Tentomon said, watching his partner.

"Well, battering are driven by an acidic, chemical reaction," Izzy told the big digimon, "which generates a current. But this one produces it's own current, _independently._"

"And what do that mean in plain English, for those of us who didn't major in engineering?" Tentomon asked.

"Give me a nano-gear," the boy said, still rapidly typing.

"I'll even give you three," the bug drawled.

Izzy took a few seconds to continue entering keystroke after keystroke, finally speaking with a grin on his face, "If I can decode this particular program, then I can trace it's base functions and figure a way out of here!"

+-9

Their frantic flight took Tai and his group out onto a walk way in one of the more open portions of the factory. Unfortunately, Andromon was still right behind them. His steady pace on those long legs allowed him to easily keep up with the four children and their digimon.

"He's getting closer!" Sora shouted as they ran, and they could hear Joe panting as he ran for his life next to them.

"This is not good!" Joe panted out, taking a breath on each word, "I don't like this at all!"

"Come on, you guys!" Agumon called.

Andromon narrowed his eyes at them as they began to pick up speed.

"Ah!" Lucy cried out in pain as her legs gave out from beneath her and she tumbled to the ground at the back of the group.

"Lucy!" Sora yelled, seeing the machine man approaching their friend, scared she was about to be killed. Andromon began spinning his black hand again to power up his attack.

+-9

"I admire the way you keep working while your friends are out having fun," Tentomon told Izzy. The boy hadn't stopped typing since the lights turned back on, just staring at the symbols on the walls and hitting the right keys to enter the information, "Don't you ever feel sort of... left out?"

"Not at all!" the boy said with a smile on his face.

"So, you would rather spend your time with puzzles instead of people?" Tentomon suggested.

"Precisely," Izzy admitted, "What could be more exciting than breaking a cryptogram that nobody else can figure out?"

"I can think of a lot of things. Like relaxing on a nice, warm beach and not being trapped in a small room with no exit," the bug digimon said, "But that's just my opinion."

"I'm just trying to determine how we got to this place," Izzy said, trying to placate his friend, "And I'm trying to learn more about you digimon, perhaps prove some of my theories.

"What are you theorizing about? What's the big mystery?" The bug digimon asked, throwing it's forearms to the side questioningly, "I am who I am. I'm not hiding anything."

"Really?" Izzy asked.

"I simply can't understand this preoccupation with who you are," Tentomon sighed, "Is there some deep, dark secret in your origins?"

Izzy cast his eyes down at that, remembering one of the worst things he'd ever learned from his parents. They had kept it from him for years, leaving him in the dark about a secret most important to him. He wouldn't have loved them any less if they had just told him-

"Izzy? Izzy!"

"Huh?" the boy snapped out of his revery, "What is it?"

"You were off in another world," Tentomon told him, "Look at your screen, something's happening."

"What?" Izzy breathed as he noticed the lines of text he'd been typing for the last fifteen minutes beginning to float around the screen. An odd happening to say the least.

"Perhaps you should stop focusing on the problem and start looking for a solution," Tentomon suggested, "Your friends are in trouble. Can't you feel it in your bones?"

Then the boy noticed the flashing green light coming from the device on his shoulder strap.

"Yeah, and my Digivice has been activated!"

+-9

"Boy, that's productive," Matt said sarcastically as he and the other two kids with him watched the machines on the belt work, "This thing puts them together then takes them apart again. What's the point of it all?" The three kids and their digimon partners just watched, unaware of the things going on in the other parts of the facility. They stared as the pieces were removed one by one, till it, whatever it was, was back to it's frame.

+-9

"Hello? Tentomon to Izzymon," the bug said, trying to gain the boy's attention, "Are you reading me?"

"This is merely speculation," Izzy began as he watched the floating lines of text shifted into a simulation of the factory, "but I think I've stumbled onto more than just a simple computer game," the simulation pulled away from the factory and began to show the entire island they were on, "And further more, I'm about to abandon my alien theory as well!" He studied the image intently as it spun in place showing the entirety of the island in black grid outline.

"Oh my, it's getting very hot in here!" Tentomon yelped, "Ow, ow ow! I'm burning up! Do something quickly, I'm being zapped!" Looking at his partner, Izzy could see smoke rising off the poor guy as he danced in place to try and relieve the heat. The space between his sectioned Exoskeleton were glowing with intense heat.

"What's going on!?" Izzy panicked, "Hey!"

"Oh! Ouch! I can't stand it! Oh! Help!" The bug digimon cried, feeling like he was touching a bug zapper.

"Hmm?" Izzy grabbed his Digivice and looked at the screen, "Is it short circuiting?" The screen was flashing a stack of white bars.

"Please, mercy! Yiiipe!" Tentomon continued to cry in pain.

"Oh," Izzy said as he looked between the device, his computer and his digimon companion, "Could this possibly..." he shook his head, right then, it didn't matter, he had to do something to help his friend. He reached for the power but, only slightly hesitant, "This really isn't fair, I was about to decipher the whole thing and understand this mystery." With that he shut off his computer. Tentomon soon stopped smoking and emitting light.

"Oh, I don't like computers," Tentomon breathed as he stopped jumping about.

"My Digivice turned off as well," Izzy mumbled, "This is all very bizarre," the black screen looked back at him, unyielding with any answers.

+-9

"Hold on, Lucy!" Tai yelled while Skymomon tried to pull the girl to her feet, "Hey, rust for brains! Pick on someone your own size!"

"Tai," Joe whined, "Stop insulting the deranged android."

The boy ignored his advice, instead jumping over to where he saw a control panel for a crane, "Take this!" He pulled on the levers and managed to get a hook to swing forward and latch onto Andromon's back, then lifted him into the air.

"Gah!" Andromon cried out, starled, "Ground interrupt. Altitude reading abnormal."

"Lucy!" Joe and Sora called out as the ran to the girl.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked the girl.

She grimaced, "I'll be okay, but my legs. They hurt to move."

"Oh no, don't tell me you broke something," Joe worried, looking at her legs.

"I don't think she has," Sora said as Matt jumped back onto the walkway.

"Doesn't matter," He kneeled down in font of the smaller girl, "Just get on my back and we'll get out of here!"

Sora helped Lucy crawl onto Tai's back. He hooked his hands under her legs and she snaked her arms around his neck.

"Now let's get the heck out of here!"

No one needed any more instruction than that. They ran for their lives.

+-9

The end of the production/deconstruction line lead Matt and his group outside. Right now they were lounging against the rail of a balcony over looking the valley.

"Man am I bored!" Mimi whined, "Grey is my least favorite color, and all this deconstruction is so ten minutes ago. Why are we still here?"

"We're here because we're trying to figure out what get's built in this factory," Matt explained to the girl, "So far, it just seems designed to put things together and take them apart."

TK, standing next to Mimi with Patamon on his head, said, "I really, really hope they designed it with a door."

"There is no door," Matt shook his head, causing the others to gasp, "It's based on perpetual motion. Nothing ever stops or leaves this place."

+-9

After hanging around for five or so minutes, Andromon managed to hit the cable holding him up with a Lightning Blade. He dropped back down and his immense weight, for his relatively small size, shook the entire grated metal walkway.

"Hmmm," he growled, seeming annoyed that he lost the children, but he could sense they were still in his facility.

+-9

Izzy came running out of the facility, followed by Tentomon.

"Guys, hey guys!" He called out, "You'll never believe what I found out!"

"What is it?" Matt asked.

"Well, the computer program that is operating this factory is also producing the generating power that keeps it going!" Izzy said excitedly, "Even more incredible, in Digiworld, basic data and simple information is a living, viable substance! It's alive!" He stopped then, hearing the other group coming from the door behind him, all of them breathing hard.

"Hey you guys! Listen up!" Tai yelled out the warning.

"Man, I don't like the sound of that!" Matt said with dread coloring his voice.

"Is he carrying Lucy? Is she okay?" TK asked.

"We have got to get out of here, now!" Tai said urgently as he ran towards the other kids.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

Tai need not explain. Andromon chose that moment to burst out of the floor, ripping through steel paneling like it was cardboard. The kids screamed in fright, Tai's group skidding to a stop.

"Capture intruders," the digimon intoned, "Sensors detect hostility. Bring intruders into firing range," his targeting system moved across his vision, locking onto Matt, Izzy, Mimi and TK.

"Uh, Mister Whatevermon," Mimi asked, "are you talking to us?"

"Bring missiles to position!" he said loudly over Mimi, the panel over his chest popping open and two eyeless fish things popping out of two large holes in his chest. They had long antennae wide mouths, "Fire!" Rocket fire blasted out of the back of each missile and they launched forward.

The four kids screamed and three of them dodged. TK was frozen in place as the explosives closed in, fearing for his life, "Matt! Heelp!"

"TK!" Matt yelled. Gabumon jumped forward, Digivolving mid jump into Garurumon. Izzy couldn't take his eyes off of Matt's Digivice as it happened, noticing the similar glow.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

The much larger wolf proceeded to knock the missiles aside. One of them exploded in the air immediately, the other veered wildly off course till it was aimed at Tai and Lucy. It opened it's mouth and a gatling gun popped out. It started firing energy bullets at the boy and his charge, so Agumon leapt in front of them, willing to take the damage to stop them from getting hurt.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

Instead, he too Digivolved, becoming Greymon in an instant. Izzy noticed a similar light coming from Tai's Digivice too. Greymon knocked the missile out of the air with his tail, causing it to explode harmlessly away from all the children.

Together, Garurumon and Greymon turned their sights on Andromon who looked unafraid.

"Who challenges Andromon?"

Garurumon answered by jumping at the metal digimon, Greymon approached the android from behind. Andromon blocked both attacks with minimal effort ad knocked them both off the high balcony to the ground below, jumping after them.

"Weaklings! Rah!"

The children ran to the edge to watch the fight, rooting for Greymon and Garurumon.

"Get him, Greymon!" Tai called.

"Recycle that hunk of tin!" Matt encouraged.

"You puny ones dare to challenge me?" Andromon demanded of the two digimon who were many times his size. Both of them were having trouble getting to their feet though, while he was standing at the ready.

Garurumon growled threateningly as he got up, glaring at the metal covered digimon.

"_Lightning Blade!_" Andromon's black hand spun and he launched the electric attack at the wolf digimon. It struck him on the forehead, nearly knocking him out.

Greymon took the opportunity to launch a Nova Blast at Andromon's back, but the digimon disrupted it with a fist, making the attack disperse.

Garurumon tried his luck with a Howling Blaster, but the result was the same, Andromon cutting through the attack with a kick.

"He's more powerful than either of our digimon," Matt yelled.

"Maybe it's because he's all machine," Sora suggested, "It's almost like he's Digivolved beyond the other digimon."

"Is it possible that we could lose," Tai wondered with a little bit of fear.

Greymon, back in the fight, charged forward at Andromon, putting his full weight into the attack. Andromon caught Greymon by his jaws, stopping him cold.

Garurumon tried to use this distraction to attack from behind. All he got for his efforts was being a Garurumon shaped nail getting his by a Greymon shaped hammer when Andromon flipped the dinosaur over his shoulder and smashed them together.

"He's beaten them both now!" Tai clenched his fists, a frown marring his face.

"It's like there's no hope!" Matt despaired.

Tentomon had an epiphany, "Try reentering that program that activated your Digivice!" he told Izzy somewhat hesitant. It had hurt so much last time he was not eager to try it again.

"What for?" The boy asked.

"I believe that's the key to my Digivolving," Tentomon said.

"Yes," Izzy said, seeing his point. He pressed the power button and began to type as fast as his fingers would allow, "It's gotta work! If I can just recall the exact sequence..." The lines of text began drifting on his screen again, making the simulation run again. His Digivice activated again, and this time with great effect.

Tentomon, glowing around the breaks in his exoskeleton again, wasn't feeling the burn this time as the familiar light of Digivolution struck him.

"We cracked the program!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!" Tentomon went from a red beetle with large green eyes to a giant blue insectoid, as big as Birdramon, with no visible eyes. His carapace was completely gone now, showing off the four insectoid wings he had, and he also had four arms, each with four claws. His head was covered by a helmet like bone structure that had a large sharp horn coming out of the top and his bottom jaw was split into three sections. To end it all off, there was a large stinger coming out of the base of his spine.

Kabuterimon took to the air with a growl and then dive bombed Andromon, who was still beating up on Greymon and Garurumon.

The android digimon noticed the new enemy at the last second and jumped aside, causing Kabuterimon to slam his head into the metal ground. The giant bug shook it off, flying up and turning around for another try.

This time, Andromon caught Kabuterimon by his horn. The only sign that he was having any trouble at all was the fact that he was being pushed backwards a few inches by the bug's brute strength. Finally he twisted to the side and dodged away from Kabuterimon's claws. Claws that ripped deep gouges in the steel as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter.

"Bring missiles to position!" Andromon's chest opened again, showing more of those weird rockets with mouths and teeth, "Fire!" the missiles flew through the air, rapidly closing in on the giant insectoid.

"Doesn't that Andromon ever run out of Gas?" Joe asked

Izzy took his eyes off of what his partner had become and turned them down on the monster they were battling. He saw a spark of electricity on its knee and a brilliant idea hit him like a ton of bricks.

"That's it!" He turned to his digimon, "Cut his power! Demobilize his right leg and you'll disable his energy source!"

Kabuterimon whirled around in the air and knocked the missiles aside easily. He then held all four arms to his chest and charged up his signature attack, "_Electro Shocker! _Rah!" A ball of bright blue electricity shot away from the blue digimon and screamed into contact with the android. Thinking he could simply shrug the attack off like the others, he didn't bother to dodge. His mistake.

"Wahahahahahaha!" He screamed out, his modulated voice screaming in electric pain. In all the commotion the children noticed a black gear working it's way out of the leg Kabuterimon shocked, and flying up into the air.

"He flipped a gear," Matt pointed out, just before it dissolved into nothing more than dust.

"I don't think that's a normal gear," Lucy said from Tai's back.

"That must have hurt," Sora commented.

"That's wicked!" Tai said.

Down below, Andromon fell to his knees, his power draining away. The blue glow of his eyes rapidly faded away and they returned to their normal brown coloration.

A minute later had all the kids and their digimon standing in front of the man sized android.

"I'm very sorry," he said, his voice showing more emotion now, "That black gear reprogrammed my systems somehow. I'm normally a nonviolent digimon."

"You could have fooled us," Tai said, still keeping a hand on Lucy who was standing on her own now, but she seemed a little wobbly.

"No kidding," Sora added, then turned to Joe, "I told you he's a digimon and not an android."

"I never meant to hurt anyone," the digimon tried to say in his defence.

"Don't give it another thought," Matt said jovially, "Hey, we all make mistakes."

"I can't answer your questions about who made this place or what it's for, but I can be of some help," Andromon said, still wanting to redeem himself, he gestured to a pipe behind himself, "The easiest way to escape from here is to follow the underground waterway. The labyrinth begins just beyond this point."

"Thanks for the help, Andromon," Tai said.

"I hope you all find your way home," he told the kids, "And no matter what, try to remember the big guy who turned out to be not so bad."

"There's one thing you can count on," Tai said with a grin, "We'll never forget you, Andromon."

The kids all said their good byes to the creature, moving around him to get to the pipe large enough for them to walk without even ducking. Tai picked Lucy back up, seeing she was still having some troubles.

"You really don't need to do this," she protested, "I'll be fine in a little while."

"Well, consider this an extra break," Tai said with a grin, "Besides, I could do this all day, I'm used to carrying my little sister around like this all the time, so it's no problem."

Lucy sighed and leaned her head against his back, closing her eyes, "Thanks, Tai." Within thirty seconds she was asleep.

"Huh?" he looked over his shoulder and saw her lightly snoring and grinned a little.

Joe came over to see what was up.

"What do you think happened?" He asked their wild haired leader.

"I was gonna ask that, too," Mimi said as she joined the two boys, "Did Lucy get hurt or something?"

"I dunno," Tai admitted, "I think she's just completely exhausted."

"I am too," Mimi complained.

"Yeah, but Lucy never really slowed down like you and the other younger kids, Mimi," Joe explained, "She probably wore herself out keeping the pace with us, and all this running from Andromon probably only made it worse."

"Oh, I guess I can understand that," the girl in pink said.

Back with Izzy, TK was grinning as he asked, "Is it true you used your computer to turn Tentomon into a super hero?"

"Prodigious, huh?" the tech genius said with a grin.

"Do you think you could do that for Patamon?" the little boy asked, looking up at his partner who was resting on his head again.

"We can certainly try," he pulled out his laptop and held it in one arm while he began to type, "Let's see, enter the code like this...Huh?" He scratched his head confused as the program shut down, "That's strange. Sorry, TK, I don't think it's gonna work."

"Aw, that's Okay," The little boy said with a grin, "It was good try though."

"I know what it needs," Tai and Agumon said at the same time as they came over to try and hit the computer. Izzy grimaced and dodged, letting the boy and digimon whack each other on the head.

Lucy grumbled in her sleep and held on to Tai tighter.

"Serves you right," Sora chuckled at the two of them, both getting lumps already, "Maybe now with the holes in your heads, your brains will get enough oxygen."

That got the other children laughing, truly breaking the tension of the day's adventure.

Chapter Five: End.

Please enjoy.


	6. Chapter 6 Togemon in Toy Town

Chapter Six: Togemon in Toy Town

In the sewers, while Agumon was eagerly writing his debut single, Lucy was still sleeping on Tai's back. In these short naps like this, her dreams were always wild, filled with odd sights and sounds. The dream she had this time was of note for a couple reasons though.

She was swimming through the air, her hair let loose from its high ponytail and floating about her head, when she saw her partner digimon, Skymomon. The blue monkey was haggling with Kuwagamon over the price of used socks.

"I'm telling you," Skymomon grumped, "they aren't worth anything if they don't smell _worse_ than a skunk eating steamed broccoli in a gym bag!"

Kuwagamon roared, it's call shaking the air.

"Yes, I know you can't always get the days freshest catch, but that's no reason to say they are just as good as every other stand's product. I mean, just look at that," Skymomon pointed down the roard and Lucy couldn't help but look.

There was an entire line up of stalls, selling some of the oddest, and some of the best things one could imagine. First was Sora.

"Here ye! Here ye!" the girl called out while Biyomon waved a sign about, "Come all ye weary travelers! Enjoy the day with Sora's pantented Sing While You Work!" She held up a box showing a picture of herself singing into a mop like a rock star on a mic, "It comes with instructions for everything from Macarena Mopping to Dubstep Dusting! Buy now for only sixty seven installments of thirty nine, ninety five!"

"Sports and Baths! Sports and Baths!" Tai called out next, "Hot off the grill! And ripe for the picking!" He had miniature tubs with soccer balls in them on skewers on a revolving rack. Looking closely, Lucy could see there was even steaming water coming out of each little tub. Agumon was providing the fire for the grill in the back.

TK was next, Patamon was next to him holding up a gaming remote, "Vidja games!" the boy shouted in a thick Texan accent, "Vidja games! Beat me at tha game? Play my older brother foh free!"

Matt was next, and he Gabumon weren't selling anything so much as waiting on someone to beat TK so he could try his hand. While they waited, they were eating steak, brought to them by a rotund man in a large, sweaty apron with a name tag. The tag read 'Mom'.

"Thanks, Mom," Matt told the man, "You're the best!"

"Do your homework!" Joe stepped up, holding a book on mathematics above his head like a holy tome, "Read the good book and live by it!" He flipped open to a page, "The book gives wisdom! Here," he pointed to a page dramatically, "here we can find the wisdom of the ages! Right here it says, 'Multiplication can be defined as the idea of cloning a number a certain number of times, then adding those clones together to make one big number.' You see! The Truth is in here!"

Mimi was next and she wasn't actually selling anything, like Matt, instead she was lounging on a beach in her best winter gear- all shades of pink- and enjoying a cold soda, "Oh, I despise this so," she bemoaned, "Why couldn't daddy have sent me to that winter fitness camp like I wanted?"

Lucy frowned at that. That was way too far out there for Mimi.

And then, with a mumble and a rub of the corner of her eyes, the girl woke up.

"Hey," she mumbled, "'S'goin' on?"

"Lucy, good to see you awake," Sora smiled at the smaller girl, "We were just talking about some of the things we missed back home. Is there anything from home that you really miss?"

Wiggling for a moment, getting Tai to put her down so she could stand on her own, she thought about that question.

"I miss my bicycle," she said with a small smile, "It was given to me by my dad last year for my birthday. Someday I want to ride it across the country."

"That sounds pretty cool," Tai said, though thinking about all the stuff they missed began to make the entire troupe feel a little down.

"They really are from a different world," Agumon mumbled on the other side of the sewer water.

"That is why they are depressed," Gabumon pointed out.

"Poor kids," Gomamon said with a nod.

Before more could be said between the kids however, a sound began to make it's way to the kids from somewhere deep in the tunnel. And whatever it was, there was a lot of it.

"Quiet," Tentomon said loud enough for all to hear, "Listen everyone."

The sound kept getting closer and louder. It sounded now like angry yells, rushing water, and slime falling from the ceiling.

"Yuck!" Mimi lamented, a disgusted look on her face just at the sound.

"Numemon," Gabumon breathed.

"Numemon?" Matt asked, "What's that?"

"They're really disgusting digimon who live down here in the sewers," Gomamon explained.

"That's gross!" Tai exclaimed, sticking his tongue out like he'd tasted something bad.

"And so are they," Tentomon nodded.

"Are they really strong?" TK worried.

"No, they're weak, but really smelly. Just wait till they get closer," Agumon told the little boy.

A grimace on his face, Joe said, "Then what do you say we leave? Or am I the only one who doesn't want to get stomped by stinky sewer dwellers?"

Joe's grimace spread to the kids and the digimon as the Numemon came into view. There had to be at least thirty of the creatures. They were green slug things, with large brown eyes on eye stems, blue spots on their back, huge mouths with very human looking teeth and no qualms about running through the sewer water. And they were running surprisingly fast for having no legs.

"There's so many of them!" Agumon exclaimed, actually sounded frightened, "Hurry, run!" he turned on his heel and dashed away from the swarming slug things.

The kids and other digimon didn't wait, they just turned and followed the little yellow dinosaur.

Tai had a good question though, "If they're so week, why are running from them?"

"You'll see!" Agumon called back, not slowing down in the slightest, "Keep running!"

The Numemon began to close the distance, and the one at the very front of the group spoke, "Let 'em have it!" Then, each of them using little arm-like protrusions, they began to throw piles of pink digi-sludge at the kids and their partners.

"Come on!" Gabumon yelled while TK pulled ahead of the pack, "Keep moving!"

Mimi was a little behind the others as she ran, which was unfortunately close to the Numemon. One of the mounds of Nume Sludge streaked past her hit the sewer wall to her left.

"Ew!" She screamed and redoubled her speed, holing her hat down to her head.

"We've gotta get outta here!" Joe shouted, running faster than ever. Being eaten by a digimon was one thing but this was just wrong. He was just glad these Numemon were such bad shots, none of their sludge actually hitting the kids.

"Hey!" TK said, skidding to a halt as he noticed a tunnel off shoot, "In here!" He waited to make sure the others could see where he was going then darted down the tunnel. He was quickly followed by the other kids and all the digimon. The Numemon weren't that far behind either.

The incline of the tunnel made it somewhat harder to run, but it was amazing what you could do when you were trying to outrun volleys of sludge. The tunnel soon gave way to a rock cave and the cave opened up not long after that to sunlight.

The kids only began to slow down, their breathing labored, when they were actually out of the cave and in the sunlight.

The kids stopped to marvel at the blue sky and the fresh air feeling like they had been down in those sewers forever.

The Numemon were still rushing forward though, and Tai and Agumon prepared to continue running.

But before the nasty little creatures could even get out of the cave, sunlight struck their eyes and they stopped cold. They began groaning in discomfort and quickly retreating into the tunnels again.

"What's happening?" Tai asked.

"The only thing that's able to drive them away is the sunshine," Agumon explained.

Tai's shoulder's slumped and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Whoo," Lucy breathed, wiping the sweat from her brow, "Why does it seem like, everywhere we go, we end up running from something?"

"Because we do," Joe sighed, "Kuwagamon, Shellmon, Seadramon, Meramon, Andromon and now the Numemon. It's becoming a reoccurring theme."

"Well," Sora said, "It's not all bad. We got some great friends out of the deal." She shot a smile over towards Biyomon, and the other kids sent significant smile to their partners as well.

"I guess there really is a bright side to everything," Mimi said with a smile.

"Yep!" Palmon chirped.

"Now we just need to find out where we are and where we're going," Matt said, looking around.

The kids stood on a rocky embankment overlooking a vast plane of brownish grass, with only a few trees in the distance and a stream nearby.

"Well," Tai said, stepping into the role of leader yet again, "Let's follow this stream, at least this time We'll have some fresh water as we walk, so when we take a break we can cool off."

"I vote for this plan," Lucy said, throwing a hand in the air.

"Me too!" TK grinned.

"We've certainly done things on less logical founding," Izzy commented.

"I'm in," Joe said simply, giving the boy majority votes.

"Great, so let's get going," Tai said more enthusiastic than he probably should have been.

And so the kids walked. And walked. And walked some more. It was turning into another one of those long marathon walks before anything was found of use. Lucy was gonna sleep so well come night time.

After nearly two hours of walking with the occasional break, something strange, though becoming more and more regular, was discovered.

"Oh, wow!" Mimi called as she stood on a hill, looking down at a field of vending machines of all different types, "There's thousands of them!"

"Eh, I'd say under a hundred," Joe said, nowhere near as excited as she was about this development.

"Or maybe just fifty," Izzy said with a quick mental count.

"How did they get there?" TK wondered rather perceptively.

"I bet there's enough snacks to last us a life time," Mimi said, not worried about how they got there, just what they had for sale, "at least."

"Mimi, they probably don't work," Tai told her, "Don't you remember the phone booths on the beach?"

"Hey," Palmon said, turning to look up at her partner, "That could be. I be it's a trick, Mimi."

"I wont accept that!" the human girl said with a hopeful grin as she ran down the hill towards the machines.

"No!" Palmon cried, following right after her.

"Even if it's not a trap, none of them are plugged in!" Joe tried to reason with the girl.

"You can't stop her," Sora shook her head with her hands on her hips, "She's so stubborn."

The girl just ignored them, perusing the vending machines till she found one that was advertising she couldn't wait to have. Palmon was right beside her, warily eyeing the machines, not trusting them at all.

"Yay, soda!" Mimi said, examining the flavors, "You want one?"

"No, I don't!" Palmon snapped.

"You don't have to bite my head off," Mimi complained to her digimon before looking at the flavors again before smiling to herself as she reached into her bag and pulled out a hand full of loose change, "Here we go!"

Before she could even press the button to pick her favored drink the front of the machine shifted and she and her digimon just barely dodged out of the way as it fell forward, right where they had been.

"Hey, cutie pie!" said a voice from inside the machine and Mimi and Palmon were shocked and disgusted to see yet another Numemon.

"It's their leader," Palmon told.

"Their leader? He couldn't lead a pack of show poodles! Even with his doggy breath," Mimi said, obviously dubious about the nasty digimon's leadership qualities.

"Hey, let me take you out on a date!" He called out to Mimi as clouds began to move through the sky overhead.

"I think he likes you," Palmon pointed out unnecessarily, "It's gotta be the hat."

"What?" Mimi balked, "What are you thinking? I wouldn't go near that short, slimy, sewer sliding, sludge slinger!" She shouted with great conviction, her hands held in tight fists in front of her.

"Mimi," the plant digimon tried to warn, "You'll make him mad."

"Who cares!? Besides," she pointed up, "we're safe in the sunlight."

"Uh-oh," Palmon intoned, looking up at that point when she noticed the light fading away. As _bad_ luck would have it, it seemed a storm was rolling in.

"Who are you calling short!? The date's off!" The leader Numemon grumped and he lifted a pile of sludge, and prepared to throw it at the girl. She ran out of range before he could hit her, but the sick splat it made on the ground had them running even faster.

"Oh no, not again!" Palmon cried as they ran back to the group.

"Party time!" the leader shouted and all the other machines opened up to show more and more Numemon.

The other kids saw the horde chasing Mimi, and couldn't believe their eyes. There didn't seem to be that many of the grimy creeps in the sewer.

"How did they get here?" Sora asked, stunned.

"Who cares!?" Mimi shouted as she dashed by, "Just run!"

That snapped the kids out of their stupor and they turned around to follow the girl. It was a mad dash to get away, the kids running for their lives.

It wasn't long before they realized, with a group that large, they were eventually going to be caught.

"Okay everyone," Matt called, "Let's split up!"

No one bothered to give a reply, they just ran off in separate directions, trying to lose the green, slimy creatures in to forest nearby. Mimi, however, wasn't having any luck. The lead Numemon was just determined to get her back for calling him short.

"Heart breaker!" He yelled, throwing the sludge at her.

Mimi squealed in fear and dodged between the trees for cover.

"Jilter!" he kept up, his two underlings pitching in as well.

Finally having enough of this, Palmon waited for an opening to step out from cover, a hostile look on her face as she prepared her attack, "_Poison Ivy!_"

The Numemon quailed in fear and turned around to run away before the plan digimon could even send out her vines.

"Huh?" the plant digimon wondered. She knew that the Numemon were weak, but running away before she even attacked? That was just weird.

"Palmon!" Mimi came out from behind her tree with a large smile on her face, "Thank you!"

"But, Mimi, I didn't do anything," she told her friend, "Why'd they run?"

In answer to her query, a humongous footstep shook the ground behind the two of them. Turning around quickly to look, and hoping not to see some kind of super huge Numemon, the girl and her digimon found themselves looking at a giant yellow teddy bear with red eyes.

"It's Monzaemon," Palmon informed Mimi.

"Come visit us at Toy Town," the gigantic bear said rather forcefully.

"Uh, Palmon," Mimi said a little nervously, "Is he a digimon too?"

"Yes," the plant digimon nodded, "He's in charge of a special place called Toy Town. It's a place where he takes care of all the abandoned Digimon Toys, and those toys love him!"

"Well, he looks harmless," Mimi said with a tentative smile.

"He always has been," her partner nodded.

"I must say," the bear started speaking again, "So pleased to make your acquaintance!" His eyes began to glow and the two of them reacted on instinct, jumping out of the way before something could hit them. And it was good that they did. Red energy beams shot out of his eyes and caused the ground to pretty much explode.

"Acquaintance? He's attacking us!" Mimi shouted, once again running away, this time going back the way she came.

"You think?" Palmon groused, the two of them dodging another red blast.

"Please come spend a fun day at Toy Town with me!" The bear shouted just before unleashing yet another destructive beam. Mimi screamed in fear, wishing random digimon would just _not_ decide to attack them for once. "Why are you running? Did I startle you? Sorry!" Some how, his apology sounded less than genuine.

"Something's wrong," Palmon huffed out as they kept running, "He's never acted like this."

"He is now!" Mimi huffed back in a panic as Monzaemon shot yet another beam at them.

Sticking his head up out of a ditch and waving to the pair, Numemon shouted, "Come here, Cookie! I'll protect you!"

"No thanks!" Mimi snapped, stopping to frown at the little guy.

But the sound of Monzaemon's large footsteps made the two of them reconsider, Palmon saying, "On second thought!" and the two of them jumped into the ditch, crouching down and covering their heads, hoping the monstrous living toy would just pass them by.

For once, luck was on their side. Monzaemon stomped by, not even looking in the ditch as he stepped over it, "How about a kicking game of soccer, you two?" he called out aggressively.

The girl, her partner and the sewer dwelling digimon stayed ducked in the ditch until they were sure he'd completely passed them by and wasn't coming back.

"He's gone," Mimi said thankfully as she peaked out from their hiding spot.

"Something bad must have happened in Toy Town," Palmon theorized.

Numemon poked his eyes up to watch the much bigger digimon leave, then turned his gaze to Mimi, "Since I saved you, lady, now will you go out with me?"

"No!" Mimi snapped, crossing her arms and turning away from the slime creature.

"Aw!" He planted his face in the ground, depressed, while the girl and her digimon left the ditch.

"Come on," the human said, "Let's go to Toy Town."

"But our friends," Palmon said, worried for the rest of the group. Mimi just brushed it off and lead the way towards where Monzaemon was going.

"Wow," the Numemon leader gushed, "she's so feisty! What a girl!"

+-9

Fifteen minutes later, the town came into view. It was a colorful place, with blues and yellows and reds and pinks everywhere you looked. And that was just the initial look you'd get from a distance.

"There it is, Mimi! Toy Town!" Palmon said as the two of them came up on the place.

"Wow, it really looks beautiful!" The girl exclaimed with a wide smile, "Kinda like a big amusement park!" The two of them didn't hesitate to enter the town, looking this way and that as they marveled at the sights of Toy Town.

Multicolored bear shaped balloons floated through the air, the streets were cobble stone, and the building looked like they came right out of a story book.

"Looks like no one's here," Mimi said, and indeed, not a single soul was out and about except for themselves. It was getting a little eery.

"Something's not right here," Palmon said lowly as they stopped at an intersection.

Just then they heard someone running up towards them. The turned to look. It was Tai! He had a big smile on his face as he ran by them being chased by a toy wind up car.

"Oh wow!" he said a little robotically, "This is fun! Boy is this fun! It's so much fun!" He round a circuit around the girl in the pink hat before taking off with the car on his heels down another street, "Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

"That doesn't look like a lot of fun," Mimi said softly, watching the boy run.

"This is so exciting!" they heard Sora cry out as she ran by, followed by a monkey with symbols it banged together as it moved, "This is really exciting!"

"Just what's going on here?" Palmon demanded to know.

"Oh, Joy!" Izzy sighed as he ran ahead of an entire regiment of toy soldiers, "What a delightful activity! This activity is really delightful!" his arms were thrown out to the side as he ran, the smile on his face looking really wooden and forced.

"Hey, Izzy doesn't talk like that," Mimi said, beginning to grow worry for her friends.

"Uh-uh," Palmon agreed just before the two of them were forced to jump apart as Lucy came joggin through, a line of toyducks on wooden wheels following her and making quack sound.

"This is great," the girl seemed to fight saying, "Greater than great! It's so very great!"

"Boy, oh boy! Is this really great or what?" Matt dashed by, laughing all the way as he was followed by a toy train.

Joe came by next, being followed by a giant water dipping bird toy, only barely dodging it each time, "Hoo boy! This is better than homework!"

TK was last, "You can't catch me!" He grinned as he ran, "Not me! You wont catch me!" flying through the air after him was a little helicopter.

"This is really weird," Mimi commented as she watched TK disappear into the town, "Everyone sounds like a bunch of zombies. How strange."

"They do!" Palmon said, tilting her head to one side to try and divine what exactly was going on here.

"Oh well," Mimi sighed, "They always were a little weird." She and Palmon began walking off, picking a random street to follow.

"I wish I knew what was going on here," The plant digimon said, "It's kind of creepy." Mimi nodded.

They continued on for a little while till they heard a very familiar voice.

"Hello!" It was somewhat muffled, but that was Agumon, "Is anyone out there? Tai! Hello!"

Looking into the window of one of the nearby buildings showed a large red chest with a golden lock, the lid rocking wildly as the digimon inside tried to get out, "Tai, Matt, Anybody! Hello! We really need your help!"

Gasping in realization, the girl and her digimon quickly ran into the building and approached the chest.

"Agumon, is that you?" Palmon asked.

"Palmon!" he called out relieved, "Yes, it's me! I'm in here with the other digimon. We can't get out!"

"Huh?" Mimi queried, "all of you are in there?" Sure the chest was taller than she was, but it was probably still very cramped.

"Yes! We're all in here!" Agumon called.

"What happened?" Mimi asked.

"We were running from the Numemon!" he told them, remembering dodging the flying sludge, "Then Monzaemon showed up. The Numemon ran away, but then he attacked us instead. We tried to fight back, but it was useless. He got Tai with his Hearts Attack!"

"TK and Matt too!" Gabumon said.

"He hit Lucy with it, then took us here and locked us up in this chest!" Skymomon called out.

"He said that we would all serve him, that we would go in the community chest," Agumon said.

"You know, looking back on it," Mimi said, putting a finger to her chin, "you're right. The toys have been playing with them!"

Palmon leaned the side of her head against the huge red chest, and ran her clawed limbs along it, looking for a weakness, "Agumon, tell us. What changed Monzaemon?"

"We don't know," Agumon sighed.

"Well, can't you get out of that box and help?" Mimi asked desperately, not wanting to end up like the other kids, being chased around by toys.

"No, we're locked in!" he called back.

"It's up to you two," Gabumon tried to be encouraging, "You must be the heroes this time."

"Just what do you mean?" Palmon asked.

"You must defeat Monzaemon!" Biyomon informed them.

"What!?" Palmon was shocked by the request.

"You're kidding!" Mimi had no idea how they could defeat someone who had already taken out all of their friends.

"That's right!" Agumon affirmed, "We can't get free 'til you save the others!"

"We have to do this," Palmon said, conviction coming into her voice.

"Oh, do we really?" Mimi was frightened. She didn't like to fight. Despite that she didn't fail to follow her digimon as she was led back out into the streets to look for Monzaemon.

"I have to tell ya," Palmon said after a few minutes of walking, "this isn't good." They were being careful, keeping an eye on their surroundings, "Monzaemon's hearts aren't supposed to attack, only give Heart Hugs, which gives people such a good feeling that it makes them want to help others." As the digimon spoke, TK came running by again, zombie-like still, and still being followed by the toy helicopter.

"You can't catch me!" he sing songed, laughing as he ran.

Mimi and Palmon watched him go, worried about whether or not they could pull this off.

"This is so ridiculous," Mimi finally said as they watched the boy.

A loud clanging sound brought their attention to another little symbal banging monkey toy. It slammed the little metal disks together rapidly, startling them.

In response Mimi frowned and snapped at it, "Stop that noise! Right now!" and she stepped on it angrily.

Not even a second later they heard the familiar heavy foot steps of Monzaemon's approach. They could see him over the top of the buildings before he actually rounded them, more bear shaped balloon inhis grip.

"It's such a happy day in Toy Town!" He bellowed as he looked down at the two.

"Monzaemon!" Palmon panicked.

"You'll like these!" He all but yelled, "Everyone likes balloons!"

Mimi took a deep breath, curled her hands into fists at her sides and yelled out at the giant teddy bear, mustering all of her courage, "Hey, Yeti-teddy! Whatever you've done to my friends, fix it! Now! Or you'll be in big trouble!" Monzaemon just stared down at her, his eyes beginning to glow again while she pointed at him accusingly, "Understand me!?"

At the last second she recognized the sign of his attack and she jumped out of the way as he hit the ground with his destructive beams. The only thing they could do after that was run away.

"This isn't funny!" Mimi cried, "I'm being chased by a giant stuffed bear!" Beam after beam hit the ground behind them, sending smoke and dirt into the air.

"Now, now! Don't run away from Toy Town!" He called out to the two, sending another blast at their heels. The dust it kicked up hid the arrival of a large group of Numemon.

"I'll save ya, honey!" The leader shouted as he through another pink sludge at the giant bear. For once, his aim was spot on, and it hit Monzaemon right between the eyes. Now something other than that odd smile crossed the bear digimon's face, a growl making it's way out of his muzzle and he glared down at the creatures as they all began throwing the foul smelling substance at him.

"Numemon!" Mimi exclaimed, no longer running away and turning to watch the outcome of this fight.

"You turn him down and he still helps," Palmon marveled.

The Numemon horde just continued throwing their nasty projectiles, but other than annoy the giant digimon, all it did was make sickly splatting noises on anything it hit. Monzaemon lifted one leg and stomped forward, sending a lot of the little digimon flying.

"Well, Palmon, what can I say?" Mimi said, watching the bear easily tear through the horde of slimes, "When you've got it, you've got it!"

The fight, if it could be called that, continued, but it was the most one sided thing she'd seen since Andromon all but dismantled Greymon and Garurumon at the same time.

"Oh no," Mimi quailed, "I don't think the Nume Sludge is working."

The Numemon all jumped at Monzaemon, but it just slapped them out of the air.

"I can't let them fight alone!" Palmon decided, running into the fight.

"Palmon, be casreful!" the human girl begged.

"Take this!" the yellow bear shouted, punched down a bunch more of the slimy digimon around it.

"_Poison Ivy!_" The vines lashed out of Palmon's claws and wrapped around Monzaemon's arm. She tried to hold him back from hitting the others anymore. Unfortunately it only worked for a couple of seconds.

He used his brute force and whipped her away, back towards Mimi.

"Palmon!" she cried, worried for her friend, "Please, talk to me!"

Palmon got up relatively quickly, calming Mimi's fear, but said, "My Poison Ivy isn't strong enough!"

The bear growled angrily as it then jumped up into the air, surprisingly high, shouting out the name of it's special attack, "_Heart's Attack!_"

The girl and digimon gasped in fear, sure that their short battle was over as the blue storm of bubble hearts approached them with the intent of capturing and brainwashing them.

The Numemon proved their tenacity though, jumping to the rescue by stacking up like a giant, disgusting wall. The hearts slammed into the wall, and the twenty or so little digimon had to really struggle to keep them from going any further.

"Numemon," Mimi breathed, honestly surprised by their bravery and perseverence.

The Heart's Attack was eventually able to bubble the green digimon though, and the situation was beginning to look only ever more dire.

Then, Palmon stepped up, a frown marring her plantlike face.

"That's enough! I may be a lady, but I'm not a pushover!" She growled and crouched getting ready to attack the giant bear digimon.

Quite suddenly a familiar keening filled the air and Palmon glowed with the light of Digivolution.

"Time to show this digimon some manners! Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!" Palmon's transformation was simple. She went from a little plant digimon, to a humongous cactus digimon. She had two short legs, two arms with large, red boxing gloves over her fists, and eye and mouth holes. On the very top of her head was a tuft of light brown hair.

"You're going down, big boy!" Togemon growled, slamming her gloves together. Mimi could only stare in awe. "You wanna dance with me?" The cactus walked forward determinedly and smashed one gloved fist into Monzaemon.

The bear digimon returned the favor, but Togemon just endured it and hit him with an uppercut that had him grunting in pain before he went for another hit against the plant digimon. She ducked the punch and jabbed him in the stomach.

"Is that the best you go-ah!" Togemon was interrupted by his arm slamming into her face, and she countered with a left cross to his.

The fight went on like this for a good twenty seconds before the monster bear digimon began charging up those red, explosive beams. Togemon wasn't just gonna take it however, uppercutting him in the chin and sending the beams skyward instead.

Then the giant cactus jumped back a little ways and launched her signature attack, "_Needle _Spray! HA!" Thousands and thousands of needles slammed into Monzaemon's entire body in only a few seconds. He yelled in pain as the zipper on his back was knocked open and a black gear went flying out into the air, breaking apart and disintegrating after it hit the ground.

The fight over, Togemon changed back to Palmon and fell onto her rear end with a sigh of relief.

Mimi ran up to the little digimon with a bright smile on her face, full of pride, "Palmon, you're fabulous!"

Like magic, the weird behavior of the kids stopped and they were finally able to take a break from all that running. After he woke back up, Monzaemon was quick to release the digimon and apologize to the kids.

"Usually when kids get tired of their toys they just abandon them, they throw them away," The bear said, finally showing real emotion, "It's so sad. So, I created a home for these toys," he explained, "Then I wanted to find a way to make the toys more important to their owners, and left the owners walk in their shoes!"

"How?" Mimi asked, "By turning kids into zombies?"

"I don't think he really intended to do that, Mimi," Joe said from behind her.

"That's right!" Monzaemon agreed, "I didn't mean for that to happen and I'm really sorry. Please accept my apology. I'll never do that again. Really!"

Tai just grinned a little sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Monzaemon, we know that you would never hurt us on purpose."

"Oh, of course not," the bear nodded, "But an evil feeling came over me!"

"It had to have been that gear!" Sora exclaimed, thinking back on everything.

"You know, I'm beginning to take this whole black gear thing a little personally," Tai said, "They cause a whole lot of trouble before disappearing."

Mimi just shrugged that off, turning a proud grin on her partner, "That's right, but Palmon and me made Monzaemon good again!"

"We make a great team!" The plant digimon smiled back.

"My friends," Monzaemon said, gathering their attention, "Their's only one way I can make up for all the things I've done today, and that's by giving you a real Heart Hug!" He stood to his feet.

"Oh boy," Joe said, not sounding at all excited about this.

"Here we go!" the bear yelled happily, leaping into the air again, "This is my gift to you! _Hearts Attack!_ With a hug!" Pink hearts instead of blue flew out of the bear digimon, and all of the kids and their digimon were bubbled inside of them, floating up in the air.

The very second the bubble encased Lucy she felt a bubble of good feelings deep in her heart and she began to giggle softly to herself, completely at peace. She looked about and saw the other children in similar conditions, all just floating about in their bubbles, feeling pleasantness of this true version of Monzaemon's signature move.

The Numemon leader decided to try his luck one last time, and with Mimi feeling more bubbly than ever while sitting inside her floating heart, he'd never have a better chance.

"Dumpling! A kiss for your hero?" he hoped.

"No," she said pleasantly, still smiling in the face of his unwanted advances.

"Wow, what a girl!" the Numemon gushed some more, "She'll come around!"

This only got the children laughing even more, all of their positive emotions boosted to the greatest heights by the heart shaped bubbles.

Chapter Six: End.

Please Enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7 Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo

Chapter Seven: Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo

Lucy still couldn't stop smiling. That Heart's Attack thing just left her feeling so good, it was hard to imagine being depressed about anything at the moment. The warm feeling in her heart was even reacting to it. It was pulsing excitedly.

"Aw jeeze," Joe groused, "The temperature is changing again! What is with this place?"

Lucy looked over at the tallest guy in the group, her hands behind her head as she walked. He was the only one not still feeling the emotional charge from the Heart's Attack. She tilted her head to one side raising a speculative eyebrow. Maybe he _was_ still feeling it. No one could deny that Joe was a worry wart and a pessimist. Maybe this was how he dealt with those overwhelming good feelings, planning for the worst and complaining about it the whole time.

"What are you thinking about?" Skymomon asked her human partner.

"Joe," she said simply before turning back to the path, "It seems like he's the only one not feeling the cheer from Monzaemon still. But, if you watch him closely it also looks a little forced, doesn't it?"

The digimon, who had been flying so she could look Lucy in the eye as they spoke, turned to observe the blue haired boy. By this point he was complaining about how it was getting so much colder than it used to be and shivering dramatically. But, looking closely, you could see a little struggle within himself to actually get the words out. If one didn't know better they'd think the boy was maybe going to crack a joke instead.

"I see what you mean," Skymomon nodded, "what do you think it means?"

"I dunno," the girl shrugged, "Maybe Joe's not happy unless he's worrying about something?"

Unfortunately, Gomamon heard this and sighed. He loved Joe like a brother, he was his best friend, really, but the tall boy could be so difficult! Sure it was getting a little cold, but bringing down the others? There was no reason for that.

"I know this is no day at the beach, Joe," Gomamon began, "But that's no reason to be a worrywart about it, and make all your friends unhappy. Pardon the pun, but chill out!" the little seal digimon scolded, "Only you have a problem with the cold! Right guys?" Unfortunately, Mimi, Palmon, TK and Patamon were visibly shivering, wrapping their arms and, in Patamon's case, wings around themselves to preserve warmth. "Think warm!" Gomamon instructed.

Gomamon was happy as a Pigmon at the feeding trough and Gabumon, right beside him, was wearing his usual fur coat to keep him nice and cozy.

At the lead of the group were Tai, Matt and Sora, and none of them seemed to be feeling the chill.

"Aw, come on, you guys," Tai said, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face, "The cold isn't that bad." Mimi, TK and their digimon just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Perhaps not if you're a polar bear or a penguin!" Izzy exclaimed, feeling the chill himself.

Lucy actually shivered a little now. Maybe Joe did have a bit of a point. The temperature was dropping pretty fast.

"Yeah, but if it snows," Tai turned around to look at everyone, "We'll throw some snowballs!"

Forgetting all about the chill in the air, Mimi said, "And make snowmen!"

"Who do you think Snowmon is?" Gomamon asked Gabumon.

"A digimon from their world, I suppose," the horned digimon shrugged.

"It's difficult to explain," Izzy said, hearing their ponderings.

"Well, if it's edible count me in," Tentomon said.

"No, the best thing about snowballs is that you can throw them at each other. It's a fun game that we play in the winter months," the computer genius explained to his digimon.

"Why would you throw food at each other?" Tentomon sounded appalled at the prospect. Izzy just sweat dropped. The digimon was obviously missing the point.

"We could even build a snow fort!" Matt suggested.

"You're gonna need one!" Tai challenged with a smile, holding up one fist.

"I bet I could beat both of you," Sora grinned, her hands on her hips.

"Yeah! Me and Sora against you two," Lucy said, getting in on it, "We'll bury you!"

"I want to build an igloo!" TK decided.

Off to the side, Joe cast his eyes downwards. He was left out, and he knew it was his own fault. But he was the only one thinking of the dangers! He had to think about the important details! No one else was.

"I'll help," Palmon said with a grin next to Tentomon, "if you tell me what it is."

"It sounds scrumptious!" Tentomon exclaimed.

"Too bad they're not edible," Izzy sighed.

"C'mon!" Joe said a little loudly, trying to bring all of the kids back to the ground, "Get serious!" he crossed his arms, "It'd be horrible if it started snowing right now!"

"Lighten up a little, Joe," Sora said as she approached, "We're just trying to look on the positive side of things."

"Bleh!" Joe grumped at that, sounding suspiciously like 'humbug'.

TK ran up to his brother and the wild haired boy, Izzy right behind him, "Hey, Tai, when do you think it's gonna snow?"

"Probably any second now," he said, grinning.

"Right on Joe's head!" Matt suggested teasingly.

"That'd be so funny!" TK agreed.

"I can't wait to see his face," Tai added.

"You know," the tallest boy said speculatively, "If the temperature drops any lower than it is already, we wont be able to camp out any more," he rubbed his chin in thought, "We'll be frozen digi-treats," that got TK, Izzy, Matt and Tai started laughing, just envisioning it, "That's right! Go ahead and laugh! But when your tootsies freeze, don't come crying to me! I'll just say I told ya so."

"Really, big guy," Lucy said, placing her hands back behind her head, "You've got to calm down and enjoy the silver lining."

"The silver lining is made of ice!" Joe snapped back, "It is always better to be safe than sorry. Think first!"

Most of the kids just shrugged at that. They couldn't really fault him for wanting to think cautiously, they just wished he'd let them have a little fun without griping about it.

"Well, let's keep moving anyways. Sticking around here won't get anything done," Tai said, starting off in the direction they had been going before.

"They're not listening to a word I say," Joe sighed, his shoulders slumping.

It wasn't long before the trees gave way to a clearing filled to the brim with snow.

"What's that white stuff?" Gomamon asked, approaching it. He and the rest of the digimon had only stayed on the more tropical side of the island.

"It's a field of snow!" Mimi said excitedly, running out into it, "There's bound to be a ski resort nearby." Her digimon, TK and Patamon were all right behind here, laughing and goofing off while the rest of the kids observed the phenomenon.

"Oh man!" Joe panicked, "This is much worse than even I thought it was!"

"What now, guys?" Sora asked.

"I say we keep going," Tai said, ever determined to keep moving forward, "We're not going to get anywhere just sitting here."

"If we walk across the field in our sneakers, our toes will go numb," Matt disagreed. Joe was beginning to feel mollified. They were beginning to understand the trouble they were in, even if it took a tundra to make them see it.

"It's impossible to continue!" he added.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Tai demanded, "Just stand here like a bunch of dorks? We either go across the field or climb up that big mountain," he pointed at the natural landmark. Lucy turned to look at the mountain and her chest _pulsed_. She sucked in a breath rapidly, almost hissing as she placed a hand on her sternum.

"Wait," Agumon said, sniffing the air, "I think there's a weird odor in the air." He continued sniffing.

"I do believe he's right," Biyomon said, taking deep whiffs of the air as well.

"What could it be?" Gabumon asked as he stepped forward.

Tai closed his eyes and tried sniffing the air himself, Izzy doing the same off to Sora's right, "I don't know, but it smells like..."

"Very familiar," Izzy said, turning in the direction the scent was coming from. Just past another copse of trees, a trail of steam drifted lazily into the air.

"It's steam!" Biyomon pointed out.

"She's right," Matt said, "But what's it coming from?"

A smile finally fell over Joe's face and he held his hands balled into excited fists before him, "A big geyser!"

"Yippee!" Mimi yelled excitedly, "Now I can take a bath!"

"And we get warm!" TK agreed. The kids ran towards the steam, eager to find the warmth promised by the naturally heated water. All except Lucy that is.

She just stood there, her gloved hands clenched into fists so tight her knuckles were turning white. She couldn't take her eyes off the mountain. She needed to climb it. She _needed_ to _climb_ it. She needed to climb it!

"Lucy!"

The girl yelped and jumped nearly three feet in the air.

"Lucy, come on," Skymomon said in a whine, "I want to go to the hot springs! My fur wasn't designed to withstand these kinds of temperatures."

Lucy breathed deeply, getting her heart beat back under control before she nodded, "Okay, Skymomon," she took one last look at the mountain before she turned to follow the other kids, plastering a smile on her face, "I'll race you there!" She took off running.

"Oh! I'm so gonna beat you!" Skymomon took to the air.

"No fair!" Lucy laughed, but didn't mean it.

Reaching the hot springs, the air temperature rose dramatically. It went from being so cold their extremities were going numb, to the high seventies within just a few steps into the springs area.

But then there was the bad news.

"This water is much too hot!" Tai complained, looking at it boiling.

"We'd be cooked if we jumped in this," Tentomon said assuredly.

"Yes, boiled," Izzy nodded.

Mimi sank to her knees, slightly depressed, "Well, there go my dreams of a nice warm bath."

"It still looks inviting," Palmon said, not really seeing everyone else's problem.

"Well, it would be inviting, to a vegetable," Matt said derisively, hands on his knees as he leaned over to look at the bubbling waters.

"What's a little dirt compared to starving!?" Joe called out, facing the facts again and forcing them to do the same, "We need something to eat, and there's nothing in sight!"

"Oh, yes there is!" TK said with a big grin on his face.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing here but a bunch of rocks and boiling water!" Joe was beginning to run out of patience with the rest of the kids.

TK just kept smiling as he pointed across the way, "Lookit!"

"Huh?" he turned, expecting to see nothing more than rocks and steam. His jaw dropped and his glasses slid partially down his nose, "Tell me I'm not imagining this," he begged.

"Yeah!" Tai through both arms in the air excitedly then clasped Joe's shoulder, "It's for real!"

"Aw come on. That's ridiculous," the older boy tried to reason, but the vision still remained, "What would a refrigerator be doing way out here?"

"Keeping the snow fresh?" Lucy suggested.

"Very funny."

The rest of the kids ran up to the big green fridge, staring intently at it, hoping it wouldn't turn into a Numemon attack. Mimi in particular was standing toward the back of the congregation.

"Hey," Matt said, "Where there's a fridge, there's grub!"

"No way! That's not possible," Joe disagreed.

"We wont know 'til we open it," Sora said from off to the right, not grabbing for the handle, though.

"I don't really think that's a-"

"I want hot coco!" Mimi exclaimed.

"What's that?" Palmon asked.

"Come on already!" Tai said over everyone, "Let's see what's in there!" He reached forward, firmly grasping the handle. Opening the door slowly, in case something jumped out at them, the group was slowly treated to the side of roughly two hundred eggs, "Whoa! Eggs!"

"There must be a zillion of them!" Agumon said happily.

"Yeah! Grub on! These'll keep us all fat for a month!"

"Wait a minute!" the worrywart of the group said quickly, holding up his hands in a stopping gesture, "You shouldn't even touch them! We don't even know if they're safe for human consumption!"

"Then let me be the guinea pig! If I turn purple, you shouldn't eat 'em," Tai volunteered jokingly.

"There's more to it than that! Even if they are edible, they don't belong to us," he tried, "That would make us all thieves! You've gotta think about stuff like that, Tai!"

"Come on, Joe," Lucy said with a slight frown, "You've got to make up your mind. Do you want to eat or what?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Unless you're into eating rocks, we don't have too much choice," Matt argued the point as well.

"I'm sure they'd say yes if they knew we were in trouble," Sora put in her two cents.

"Exactly!" Izzy nodded, "We'd tell them it's an emergency situation."

"Rationalize away," Tentomon added.

Joe sighed as he realized it was, quite literally, the whole group against him. Not even Gomamon was standing next to him on this one. His shoulders slumped and his head fell forward to have him looking at the ground.

"Fine, but if things go wrong, I want you all to know I was right about this!" He said.

"Great! Now that that's settled, let's get cooking," Tai laughed eagerly. The kids all eagerly grabbed a few eggs each and headed out to set things up to prepare.

"Biyomon and I will make a stove top out of these rocks," Sora said, "I just need help setting up this slab." She patted a big slab of rock big enough to use as a table and about six inches thick. The digimon moved forward quickly, eager to help get food in their bellies.

"Great, guys!" She then went to gather small sticks and placed them under the stone stove, "Could you start this for me, Agumon?"

"Certainly! Pah!" he quickly breathed fire onto the sticks.

"Awesome!" Sora smiled, "It should only take a few minutes to heat up, then we can start cooking!"

"I'll gather more firewood," Tai said.

"I'll boil some eggs!" TK said, grabbing an armful and moving over to one of the pools, "Now, how do I do it?"

"Let me help," Mimi said as she began picking up some grass nearby and a few sticks, "I can make a little basket for them."

Agumon and Gabumon moved off to make some bowls. Gabumon would pry loos large chunks of wood and Agumon would chew divots into them.

Lucy moved over to help Sora do the cooking, "I can only really do scrambled eggs."

"That's okay," Sora told the younger girl as she cracked one open, "Sunny side up is my specialty."

Biyomon and Skymomon were taking turns fanning the flames, to keep the heat just perfect.

Izzy and Tai came back out of the woods just as TK was pulling his boiled eggs out of the water. Their arms were full of more wood to burn

"Hey, come on, man! How are those chopsticks coming?" the wild haired boy asked Joe. The older boy was despondent as he leaned against a tree, using Mimi's survival knife to whittle a stick into an eating utensil.

"Hurry," Mimi implored, "we want to eat!"

"Sorry," Joe said in monotone, "This just makes me feel uncomfortable. We'd be in big trouble if someone got sick. No doctors, you know? Why do I always have to be the one to think about these things?" He sighed again when he noticed no one was listening yet again.

By the time the sun was setting the meal was done. They doused the fire under the stone stove top and used it as a table, setting out all of the different kind of egg snacks that they'd prepared. They had scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, sunny side up, and boiled eggs. It wasn't the richest feast in the world, but all of them were eager to dig right in. Even Joe had to admit his mouth was watering a little.

"Terrific!" Mimi said, "Tre gourmet!"

"It's your turn next time," Sora told the girl.

"Go on! Dig in," Biyomon urged everyone.

That was all the invitation they needed. Each of the kids happily took a wooden bowl, a pair of chopsticks and added everything they thought they could eat into it.

"Oh yeah!" Tai said appreciatively, "I haven't had a meal like this in a long time! My stomach's chimin'!"

"If we had some ketchup to go with this, it would be perfect," Matt said.

"Mmm! I love ketchup and eggs!" TK agreed.

Lucy blanched and Sora said, "That sounds pretty gross to me." The pink haired girl nodded her agreement.

Off to the side, Gomamon noticed something, "What's the matter, Joe? You haven't eaten anything."

"Huh?" he questioned, snapping out of his thoughts, "Oh, I was just thinking. Ketchup wouldn't be a problem if we were back home, you know? Oh well."

"Awe," Mimi sighed, slumping down, "Now I'm homesick. How depressing."

TK just kind of sat there for a moment, staring longingly into his bowl as he thought of the world they'd left behind, "You're right. Now I wanna go home."

"It's been four days since we've been here," Izzy said, "I wonder if anyone's tried to find out where we are?"

"Cheer up," Sora tried, "Tell me how you like your eggs and I'll try to do my very best!"

"I like mine with pepper and salt," Joe told her, "But I guess it doesn't matter."

"I like soy sauce!" Tai said with a grin.

"How about salsa?" Matt requested.

"How about a reality check?" Sora said with a grin to take the bite out of it.

"I'll have mine with mustard and jelly beans, please," Izzy smiled.

"That's really strange," Lucy said.

"How gross!" Matt exclaimed while Tai laughed at the absurdity of it.

"Jelly beans..." TK said ponderously, "That sounds good!"

Mimi just grimaced, "What? You're both weird," then she smiled, "My favorite is eggs topped with maple syrup. Yummy! Sometimes I like them with cherries on top!" She closed her eyes, envisioning her favorite egg dishes.

Sora balked again, "That's weird."

"But I bet it's good," TK said. Matt and Tai couldn't even comment, just laughing nervously as they tried to imagine what that would taste like.

"I'd try it," Lucy admitted.

"What? You're ruining my appetite. I just like plain eggs!" Joe put his head in his hands, "I wish we could talk about something other than egg recipes.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. They're just having fun," Gomamon tried to get his partner to lighten up.

"Come on!" Matt said, "Join the party!"

"I think it's really too late for him," Tai said with a smile, "I think Joe thinks we've gone a little crazy over these eggs."

"Well really," Joe said, looking up again, "Jelly beans and cherries on eggs. That's crazy talk! Salt and pepper's all they need. Keep it simple. That's always been my motto."

Gomamon shrugged and shook his head, "I'm afraid Joe's just not the kind of guy that's meant to be adaptable."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" the boy asked angrily.

"Let's face it, Joe, you're kind of a stick in the mud, if you get my drift."

"I'm just practical!"

"You're stuffy!"

"It never fails," Biyomon sighed, putting a wing to her face, "Here they go again." In the back ground, Joe and Gomamon kept at it.

"You wanna fight!?" the digimon lifted his front half up and began playfully jabbing at Joe, though not even really coming close to hitting him, "Hah? Hah? Hah? Hah?"

"Oh, yeah? Sure!" Joe stood to his feet, his fists clenched before him.

"Hey, hey!" Matt came over and grabbed Joe by the arm, "You've gotta calm down. Come on."

Joe swatted his hands away, "I am calm! He's the one who's dingey!" he grimaced then, holding his arm, "And why'd you squeeze my arm!?"

"You don't seem to be yourself today, Joe," Matt realized, "You're a basket case."

"I am just trying to be careful! Unlike the rest of you weirdos! I'm telling you, you're all asking for trouble!"

Some time later, after the meal was done, the blue haired boy had moved off to sit on his own. He sighed as he threw random pebbles into the boiling waters.

"I've got to be the cautious one around here," he complained to himself then threw another rock into the water, "I have to be the voice of reason. I have to."

His thoughts and quiet musing were cut off by the sound of Tai shouting.

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this!?"

"Because it's way too dangerous!" Matt yelled back.

"There's no place else to go! We have no choice!" Tai clenched his hands before him.

"Look! Before we do something foolish we should think it over a little more!" Matt said, holding his hands out to the side. Joe walked up to stand with the rest of the group, watching the spectacle.

"You're just ol' chicken!" Tai insulted.

"Hey, everybody," Joe said, "What's all the ruckus about? Why are Matt and Tai fighting?"

The digimon shrugged, weary of the arguments between the two.

"They're debating about whether or not we climb Infinity Mountain, which is way up over there," Izzy explained, pointing to the tallest mountain on the island. Lucy was staring at the mountain again, focused on it more heavily than anything else. The pulsing in her chest told her she needed to be up there. She needed to!

"That's practically up to the sky!" Joe exclaimed, looking at it.

"Infinity Mountain's a doozey, that's for sure," Tentomon said simply.

Tai was gritting his teeth, getting really angry at Matt's obstinance, "It's the perfect spot! We gotta climb up there! It's the best view of the island!"

"You've got to admit, he's got a point there," Joe said.

"That's not how Matt sees it," Sora told him.

"Nobody would make it up that peak! It's much too big of a gamble!" The blonde boy groused right back at the goggle wearer.

"He could be right, Joe," Biyomon said, "there could be lots of evil digimon up that peak."

Joe put a hand to his chin in thought, considering that, "Hmm. That's not good. That wouldn't be worth the risk."

"Come on, Matt, don't be a whimp! We wont get anywhere if we just stand around talking!" Tai tried to get him to see reason still.

"Put your fists down when you talk to me and stop acting like you can just bully your way into being the leader!" Matt said, turning away with his arms crossed.

"What are you saying!?" Tai demanded.

"Knock it off, you guys," Joe said walking up to stand between them, his hands held up to each boy, trying to placate them, "Chill out. Now look here. Calm down. Let's be sensible."

"So, what's your opinion about this, Joe?" Matt asked, expecting the worry wart to jump onto his cause right off the bat.

"Huh?" Joe articulated.

"Yeah, Joe! Tell us who's right, me or Matt!"

"Ah, uhn," the poor boy slumped nervously, trying not to be caught up in it, "Well, I think Tai's right about going up that peak. If we went up there, we'd be able to see the landscape of the island a lot better."

"Hah! See, Matt, I'm right!" Tai said with a smug grin and his hands on his hips.

"Hold on," Joe said quickly before the shorter boy could really get going, "Matt brought up a real good point about the danger. It'd be kind of dumb to lead everyone else up to a place we don't know anything about. It wouldn't be safe." He sighed as he went back into his thinking pose, staring at the ground but not really seeing it.

Both boys sighed, nothing had been solved, the blue haired boy had just pointed out the facts as he saw them.

"Aw come on! Let's go as far as we can up the mountain!" Tai shouted finally.

"That's stupid!" Matt yelled back, "We can't protect ourselves out there!"

"Stop it now!" Joe ordered, looking from one would be leader to the other, "You're both making me a nervous wreck! Just give me a chance to think, don't be difficult!"

"What!?" Matt shouted indignantly, "You are the most difficult person I ever met!"

"Hey! I am trying to make a decision here, so don't interrupt me!" Joe was beginning to fall into his own annoyance as well as the two younger boys.

"You're just a big ol' chicken, Matt!" Tai said, leaning forward and shouting.

"Tai, you better take that back!" Matt pointed a finger in his face.

"Enough already, you're given me a headache!" Joe shouted to the sky.

The entire time they were arguing, Sora had been losing more and more of her patience. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping one finger on her bicep in agitation. Her eyes had been closed, but now she clenched her fists opened her eyes to glare at them, and shouted out an order.

"Put a cork in it, you three!"

That took all three boys aback. They'd never heard the girl go off like that before.

"Now, grow up!" She commanded, her hands on her hips, "We have to decide what to do!"

Lucy looked away from the mountain for a minute. Just to see what the rest of the groups decision would be. She'd already decided she was climbing that mountain.

"Besides, it's getting really late," Biyomon told them.

"I think we should get some shuteye," Agumon nodded.

"There will be plenty of time to argue later," Gabumon added.

"First of all we need to find a place to sleep," Sora agreed with the three digimon, "Let's head for the caves."

"We'll stay warm in there!" Agumon said.

"I call the top rock!" Biyomon joked as the group made its way toward the cave entrance. Lucy took one last look at the mountain before following.

Joe sighed to himself, staying behind the rest of them. He felt... kinda ashamed of himself. He eventually wandered into the cave and lay down to rest, but his thoughts just wouldn't leave him alone.

Listening to the crackling of the fire was enough to lull the others into sleep, but Joe just lay there staring at the ceiling of the cave.

'_Someone's going to get hurt if I don't do something fast!_' he thought, remembering the argument, '_But how? I couldn't even stop the fight. Instead I got involved, myself! That wasn't too smart. If I'm responsible for everyone's safety, then I have to protect them. Their lives depend on me!'_ He sat up a look of determination on his face, "I'll do it."

He stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave. He picked up a stick and wrote a quick message in the dirt. He didn't notice that his message had woken a couple people up. Well, a digimon and a human at least. The digimon was his partner, Gomamon. The other?

Lucy got up slowly, extracting herself from Skymomon's cuddling to go look at what Joe wrote down. She grabbed a similar stick and added to it before going back into the cave and carefully picking up her partner. The little monkey began to wake up, but Lucy shushed her silently.

Once outside though, the little digimon asked, "Wha's goin' on, Lucy?"

"Joe's going to climb the mountain, and I'm going with him," the little girl said with determination burning in her eyes.

"Okay," the digimon said, "Count me in."

"Thanks Skymomon," she smiled, "Now, let's see if we can catch up to Joe."

Just a little ways ahead of them, the boy had stopped when Gomamon confronted him.

"Whoa there," he said, "What are you up to, Joe? You're not gonna climb that mountain by yourself, are ya?"

"Gomamon?"

"Yep! Forgotten me already?"

"Why don't you go get some sleep?" Joe suggested with a frown.

"Not happening," Gomamon said with a determined frown of his own.

"Yes it is," Joe argued.

"I don't think so," the digimon said, turning his head away from the boy.

"Me neither!" Lucy said, coming up to the boy from behind.

"Lucy! You too! You should really go back to bed, all three of you!" the boy tried to reason.

"No way, Joe," Lucy said resolutely.

"Aw man," he sighed, "What will it take to get you to go back to the cave?"

"Nothing but the view from the top of that mountain," the girl stubbornly commented.

"But it could be dangerous!"

"Then it's a good thing you've got some friends to watch your back," Lucy moved around the boy and walked towards the mountain with her head held high.

"Hey, wait! Wait for me!" Joe jogged ahead a little bit to catch up to the girl who was carrying her sleepy digimon. Gomamon was right beside him. "You're really not gonna let this go, are you?"

Lucy shook her head, but her posture softened, "I had already decided I was gonna go up there anyways, even if the others decided not to."

"Why?" he asked.

Lucy didn't answer for a minute, looking down at the ground, trying to think of how to reply without making herself sound crazy.

"Do you know that feeling you get when everything is as it should be? Like when the sun is hot and the pool is just the right temperature?" she asked.

Joe lifted an eyebrow, "Yeah, I guess so. Like when I've finished all my homework."

"Yeah, like that," Lucy smiled a little at the 'Joe-ness' of that answer, "Well, I've been feeling like that ever since our Digivices fell out of the sky. It just feels... right to be here. And I think if I can climb this mountain, I might be able to see something important, maybe figure out why I feel like that."

Joe stared at her, a little slack jawed at that admission. Honestly, ever since he'd gotten here, he'd just felt the fear heaping on. Sure, there were some up sides, but not enough to make him want to stay. Was that what she was saying?

"Lucy... You don't..." he trailed off, not sure if he wanted to know, "You don't want to stay here? Do you?"

"I..." the pink haired girl paused, thought about it, then shrugged, "I don't know. But I think I will when I get to the top."

Joe hummed at that, thinking about what he knew about the girl walking with him. Honestly, it wasn't all that much. She hadn't kept to herself or anything, her past just never came up as the topic of conversation all that often.

It wasn't all that long before the four of them, two humans and two digimon, were climbing the mountain proper. And it was a trying experience, the slope was so steep, it was a good thing there was a path that led to the top, spiraling around up the sides. A quarter of the way up, all three of the ground based creatures were sweating. Skymomon was still sleeping in Lucy's arms so she was okay.

"Infinity Mountain is a lot bigger than I thought it was," Joe breathed, gasping a little deeper than usual from the strain.

"Are you ready to quit?" Gomamon asked, sweating just as much as his boy, "We can turn around."

"Of course not," Joe said strongly. He tripped for a moment, but got right back up.

"I can give ya a hand," Gomamon said, holding out a flipper to the boy.

"Hand?" Joe asked, looking down at the clawed flippers, "Huh? You call that a hand?" Lucy giggled a little at that.

"Watch it!" Gomamon barked, frowning.

"I was kidding," Joe said, waving away his partner's irritation, "Lighten up."

"Huh?" Gomamon's eyes widened a bit as he looked Joe with a surprised smile.

"What's wrong?" the blue haired boy asked.

"I think you actually have a sense of humor," Gomamon said in wonder.

"What?"

"Well," the little guy shrugged, "Maybe not. Let's go."

Lucy giggled even more. Those two could be so funny.

"Come on, Joe," She said as she passed him, "Still a lot more mountain to climb before we got back to the others."

Along the way the four of them had to jump rivers, navigate narrow pathways, and watch out for moss covered rock as they trekked the mountain. By the time they were nearing a the halfway point, Lucy was waiting for Joe and Gomamon to pull themselves up onto the ledge with her and the now awake Skymomon.

Joe managed it with a little trouble, but Gomamon was losing traction.

"I could use a lift!" he requested.

Joe quickly pulled him up, earning his thanks, then sit down on the rock, "Whoo, I could use a break."

"Me too," Lucy agreed, sinking down to sit on the ground.

"Looks to me like we're halfway there," the boy said, looking up at the mountain.

"You know, we make a great team," Gomamon said to Joe, a smile on his face.

"Actually, we do," Joe admitted with a smile right back.

Then the mountain began to rumbled and shake. Lucy screamed, frightened for a moment, latching onto a big onto Joe's arm to keep from falling.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Earth quake?" his partner suggest.

"You don't think this mountain is a," he paused to gulp then cried out as the shaking got worse, "volcano!"

Instead of erupting, part of the mountain over their heads pulled aside and several spinning black gears flew out into the air.

"Look at that!" Joe yelled over the rumbling.

"Black gears," Gomamon breathed.

"What are they doing up here?" Skymomon asked. Lucy just cringed, holding tighter onto the taller boy. She hated it when the earth shook like that.

"I don't know, but look," The blue haired boy pointed, "they're coming out of the mountain." The mountain side slid back shut, and Lucy finally cracked one green eye open to see. She was just in time to see the black gears flying off into the night.

"I don't think this is a good thing," she commented, finally letting go of the older boy.

"Yeah, I guess there's no running away this time. Let's go!" He said with conviction.

"Mm-hmm," his partner nodded. Lucy was still determined to reach the top of the mountain, and she knew Skymomon would protect her as well.

After a while, they made it to where Joe had seen the gears come out, but nothing other than a small cave was nearby. That and a miniature water fall.

"I'm sure I saw 'em up here," Joe said with a confused tone, sticking close to the mountain wall as he looked up, "Where could they have gone?"

"I dunno," Gomamon shrugged, "Would it be too much to hope that they disappeared all together?"

"I did see some fly off in that direction," Lucy told the, pointing off away from the sun rise.

"We'll have to climb up there and see," Joe told them. Lucy nodded her ascent as she began to follow him. There digimon however had stopped.

"Wait," Skymomon said softly, "I hear something!"

"Me too," Gomamon said with a frown, "That sound... way up there." the two digimon looked towards the rising sun.

A whinny echoed through the air as Joe and Lucy followed the gaze of their partners, just in time to see a giant flying horse with a horned red helmet descending out of the sky.

"Oh, that's just great," the boy said sarcastically, "A flying horse wearing a mask. This can't be good."

"That's not your everyday kind of flying horse, Joe," Gomamon said, "that's Unimon. He's a wise old digimon. I never knew he lived in these mountains. He's not much of a talker." Joe grimaced and ducked into the cave, Lucy right behind him.

"Hide!" Joe ordered, picking up his digimon.

"Unimon's very gentle," the seal told him, "We don't have to hide from him."

"Yeah, well, your information hasn't been very accurate lately."

"Cold, but true," the creature admitted and letting himself be taken into the cave.

Just in time too. Unimon landed, not seeing the digimon and kids hiding in the cave. He folded his wings in and whinnied again, walking forward to the mini waterfall.

"I guess that's his watering hole," Joe whispered as they watched him lean his head down to drink.

"See, I Told you he was a nice digimon," Gomamon said plaintively, "He wouldn't hurt a fly," he hopped out of the cave a little ways to watch the digimon.

"Wow," Lucy breathed, sticking her head out, "he's beautiful."

"Isn't he though," Joe nodded.

"Maybe Unimon will tell us what we need to know!" Gomamon said, full of hope, "Then we can go back to our friends!" He shuffled forward to talk to the digimon, much to Joe's chagrin, "Hello, Unimon!" the little guy called, "It's me, Gomamon. It's been a long time since we..." the little guy trailed off as an odd sound filled the air. Odd and familiar.

Unimon's ears twitched as he turned to look for whatever was making that sound.

"Do you hear that?" Skymomon asked.

"What?" Joe asked, "What is it?"

"Hmmm," both digimon looked to the sky along with Unimon, "There's something out there."

What ever it was was getting closer quickly. The kids could hear it now and that sound was not a good one.

"Something's coming toward us! Can't you see it?" Gomamon asked.

"No way!" Joe exclaimed seeing a black gear coming down out of the sun's glare.

"Look out!" Lucy shouted, afraid for the result of it's approach, "It's another gear."

It came down like a bullet and slammed into Unimon's back causing the kids and their digimon to gasp in horror.

The pain of the attack caused Unimon to whinny and rear back before collapsing forward momentarily. He stood back up, growling, and the blue visor in the mask on his head was starting to glow red. He turned around to face the group that was climbing the mountain, havoc in his mind for them.

"Look at his eyes! I think we're in trouble!" Gomamon cried.

Unimon stomped forward and opened his mouth showing that he had sharp teeth where a normal horse wouldn't.

"Hello, Gomamon, aren't you glad to see me!?" the horse monster spoke with an English accent.

+-9

Back at the cave, Sora was the first to wake up. She yawned and stretched, letting out a pleased groan.

"Man did I sleep well," She commented, "Huh?" She opened one eyes, surprised that Joe hadn't said something in complaint about sleeping on the rock floor of the cave. Looking around she noticed that, not only was Joe gone, Lucy, Gomamon and Skymomon were nowhere to be seen.

Instead of panicking she assumed that they were outside, warming up by the hot springs. She got to her feet and walked to the opening at the front of the cave and stopped when she saw the note written in the dirt.

"'I'll be back in a little while, please wait for me, signed Joe'," dread grew in her chest as she read on, "'PS I went with him. Lucy.' Oh man, this is not good!" She ran back into the cave, "Wake up! We've got an emergency! Joe and Lucy are gone! I think they went up the mountain!"

+-9

An explosion rocked the side of the mountain. Lucy couldn't stop her scream of fear, ducking for cover from the debris flying through the air. Joe ducked too, covering Gomamon protectively.

As soon as the mountain stopped shaking, Joe grabbed Lucy by the arm and hefted her to her feet. Skymomon was decidedly not flying as the four of them ran around the mountain for their lives. Being in the air with that monster just sounded like a bad idea.

"Having a good time, dear guests," the flying digimon laughingly growled. He descended through the air to be just behind the four of them and said, "I'm in the mood for a little game of Aerial Attack!" He charged an energy attack in is wide open mouth. It glowed white at the center and sky blue on the outer rims. It flew out of his mouth and slammed into the mountain again.

Lucy's scream echoed all the way to the earth below as she hit the ground rolling after being knocked forward by the explosion.

"Gomamon, Skymomon, one of you do something!" Joe called out as he ran forward to check on the pink haired girl.

"What?" Gomamon asked, eager for an idea on how he could help.

"You're not thinking of leaving, are you?" Unimon asked, hovering in the air before them.

Skymomon growled at the flying monster and decided flying was a risk she was gonna have to take to protect Lucy.

"Hey you big, flying donkey!" She yelled out at Unimon, "Why don't you just buzz off! _Whirlwind Fist!_" The swirling winds of her special attack covered Skymomon's right forearm and when she punched forward the fist shaped green whirlwind slammed into Unimon's helmet.

"Hmm? What was that? An attack? Ha!" He beat the monkey back with one wing, slamming her into the mountain side. Skymomon cried out in pain and fell limply onto the path below.

"Skymomon," Lucy whispered, pulling the little digimon into her arms.

"Now, why don't I show you all a real attack?" Unimon hover back and aimed so that he would get them all in one blast, "_Aerial Attack!_" the energy gather in the flying horse's mouth again and Joe grimaced.

"We need some help!"

The energy ball just kept growing, getting bigger and bigger till it actually obscured their view of the monster.

Lucy closed her eyes, holding her partner close to her, not wanting to see the end coming when it hit. The mountain shook yet again and Lucy bit back another scream. She was sure that Unimon had fired his attack, just another half second and-

"Birdramon!" Joe yelled out in relief.

Lucy opened her eyes and looked up. Indeed, there was Birdramon, pinning the flying unicorn to the wall. Sora, Tai and Agumon were riding on the giant fire bird's feet.

"We've come to save you!" Tai called down to them as he let go of Birdramon's claw and dropped to the path with Sora and Agumon.

"Just in time, I'd say," Joe grinned.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked the four of them, running forward to meet them. She reached Lucy first.

Lucy looked up at the older girl, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes as she did so before she dived at the older girl with a hug of relief, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"I thought we were gonna die!" She cried, holding onto the taller girl for dear life with her one free arm.

"Hey, it's okay now," Sora said, holding the girl and patting her on the back.

Just then, Unimon pulled itself out of the rock face and roared at them, "_Aerial Attack!_" He let loose another shot at the fire bird. It slammed into her large frame and she fell to the ground below.

"Birdramon!" Sora called. She probably would have tried to go tend to her friend, but Lucy was clinging onto her for dear life, and she didn't want to let go of the girl while she was like this.

"Well," Tai said, looking to Agumon.

Agumon nodded and focused on his connection to Tai.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" The humongous dinosaur was just barely able to stand on the narrow mountain path. He reached for the flying unicorn, but he just pulled higher into the air. Then, moving faster than anyone knew possible, Unimon body slammed Greymon from the back. The mountain trembled and Lucy yelped as she held onto Sora tighter.

"Are you okay?" Tai shouted to his partner, worried for his large friend.

"I'm stylin', dude," was Greymon's answer as he got back up and firmly planted his feet on the path while breathing in deeply. Unimon was swinging around for another attack when the dinosaur released his signature attack, "_Nova Blast!_"

Unimon dodged the fireball easily then unleashed another Aerial Attack on the digimon. Greymon roared in pain as he was slammed into the rock yet again.

"Greymon and Tai are in big trouble," Joe cried in distress, then notice the monster's gaze trail over to the two girls, "Sora, Lucy! Watch out!"

"What have we here?" the monster said sinisterly.

"_Meteor Wing!_" Birdramon had recovered and released her own signature attack. Yet again, Unimon proved his swiftness in the air as he dodged the purifying fire. He moved right through the attack with out a single spark touching his hide and slammed into Birdramon head first.

"Oh no! Birdramon!" Sora cried out as the large flying digimon fell to the ridge below again.

Unimon circled where Birdramon hit the ground, ready for if the fire bird got up again. He was actually flying below the kids' current altitude, and Joe had an excellent view of the black gear sticking out of Unimon's back.

"The gear!" the boy gasped, "Aw man, this is completely insane, but no one else can do it!"

"Joe, what are you-No, don't!" Gomamon interrupted his own question as the boy jumped off the path and landed on Unimon's back. He grabbed onto the large black gear while the winged horse whinnied angrily and pulled with all his might.

"No, it wont come out," he grunted. When Unimon ascended swiftly, the gear became Joe's only handhold.

"Joe! Stop! Don't try to be a hero!" Gomamon yelled out with worry.

"I know, but I just have to do this one thing!" Joe called back, still trying to pull the gear free and not fall to his doom at the same time, "I'm not gonna stop until it's done! I have to think positive! I can do it! I'm responsible!" He pulled yet again, but it didn't budge. All that happened was that Unimon bucked extra hard, causing the blue haired boy to be knocked loose.

He screamed, rather reasonably, as he began to fall to his doom.

"Jooooooee!" Gomamon screamed at the top of his lungs while he watched his best friend fall.

Joe's Digivice began to glow brightly, and Gomamon felt energy pour into him from his connection to the tall boy.

"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" Lick most of the digimon before him, Gomamon's evolved form was huge. He was covered in a large amount of shaggy white fur that was thick enough to block out any kind of cold, and he had two huge tusks come down from his mouth. His clawed flippers had turned into black feet with three red claws each, and there was a massive black horn on his forehead. From his bulk to the shortness of his legs, it was easy to see he was meant to be in the water.

Joe was prepared for his ultimate demise, though he was still screaming, and had his eyes closed to avoid seeing exactly which rock he was gonna hit. It was, therefore, a surprise when he landed on something soft and fuzzy instead of hard and rocky.

"Hold on tight, Joe, 'cause we're going for a ride!" Ikkakumon told the boy who grabbed a tight hold of the fur. Then the water monster jumped through the air with surprising nimbleness, slamming his head into the side of Unimon.

Unimon fell through the air nearly forty feet before it was able to level off, "Grah! _Aerial Attack!_"

Ikkakumon quickly leaned back and avoided the sky blue attack, then growled back at the flying digimon, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Joe had a front row seat to the sight of fire coming from the bottom of Ikkakumon's horn before it shot through the air, followed by another horn, which seemed to grow back immediately.

Unimon dodged the projectiles easily and Joe despaired, "You missed him! He's much too fast for us!" Just as he was saying this, the horns turned around, shed their outer casing, and showed themselves to actually be missiles. Missiles with heat seeking capabilities apparently. Both exploded on Unimon's back, sending the horse digimon to the ground. He then ran out of the cloud of dust that created a few seconds later and took off into the sky. The gear? That fell to the ground and turned to dust.

"The gear just dissolved!" Joe exclaimed, "Yay! You saved the day!"

Greymon had just lowered Tai to the ground as the battle ended, "Hope I didn't shake you too much, Tai."

"Nah," the wild haired boy laughed.

"That was great!" Sora called to Joe as Birdramon landed behind her, turning back into Biyomon. Agumon and Gomamon were soon back to themselves as well.

"Good job!" he told his partner, "That's what I call pulling it together."

Lucy was finally feeling good enough to let go of Sora, "Sorry about that, Sora. I was just... I really don't like earthquakes, you know? And then I thought we were going to..."

"It's okay, Lucy, we're all okay now," Skymomon told her.

"Yeah, we all get a little scared of something," Sora said.

After the girl had wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, the three kids walked over to stand with Joe.

"Wow, Joe, you were really Jammin' out there!" Tai said, shaking his hand, "You're a pretty cool guy after all!"

"You were so awesome it made it possible for Gomamon to Digivolve!" Sora said with a big grin.

Joe blushed at the praise, "Aw."

"That's not why I did it!" Gomamon corrected, "It's because I'm a nice guy and Joe would have fallen on his head. That's why. And I didn't have anything better to do anyway," Joe just walked over and crouched before the little seal a speculative look on his face, "Hey, if you don't believe me then put up your dukes and let's fight about it!" He lifted up one clawed flipper.

Joe just smiled and took his flipper in hand, "Just chill, Gomamon. You're the best, and heroes don't have to fight!"

"Um," Gomamon smiled and blushed visibly, "Oh, heroes?"

Biyomon and Skymomon giggled, the first approaching the blushing digimon, "Uh-oh, Gomamon's emberassed!" she sing songed.

"No way! I'm no such thing!" Joe's partner denied loudly, causing the kids to laugh.

Tai grinned though and pointed at the mountain, "Come on everybody, we're almost there! Let's go all the way to the top!"

Lucy nodded, "I still want to see what's up there."

About forty minutes later, all eight of them had made it there. Joe and Gomamon stood at the lead, followed by Sora and Tai, side by side with their digimon, with Lucy bringing up the rear. Skymomon had recovered enough to move on her own now.

"Yeah! I told you we could do it!" Tai yelled with a smile. The others cheered too.

Lucy walked up to the edge of the plateau they were standing on and looked down around the island they had been traveling for more than half a week. She could see the ice patch they'd been on just yesterday, Meramon's volcano, and the desert they crossed to get there. She could see Toy Town and Andromon's factory.

And above all, one thing that she saw made her take in a gasp of breath, drawing the attention of the other three children up there with her as she slowly backed away from the edge.

"Lucy, what is it? Did you see something down there?" Tai asked, worriedly looking for anything that might attack them.

"What is it?" Sora kneeled by the girl, "What did you see?"

Lucy looked up at Sora and said only two words, "I'm home."

Chapter Seven: End

Please enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8 Evil Shows His Face

Let me say, right off the bat here that Lucy is not a digimon in disguise or something like that. She's not got digimon ancestry, either. The Digiworld is her home though, and that will be explained in due time.

Second thing I should say right now is that there are some chapter/episodes that will only be mentioned in passing. This is because, while I am keeping this as close to the original story as possible, I am still trying to make Lucy a part of each chapter. Those episodes where Lucy can only even be mentioned in passing will be skipped over for the sake of better writing. Nothing would have changed in those episodes, that's why I wont be writing them.

Chapter Eight: Evil Shows His Face

Lucy stood at the edge of the peak again, looking out across the island, looking across her home. She didn't know why she thought that, but she knew it was true.

"What do you mean by that?" Sora asked, putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Lucy looked up at her again, her green eyes glistening with raw emotion. Surprise and... was that happiness? Evident.

"I just," Lucy trailed off and looked back over the island with a smile blooming, "Back home... back on earth, I never felt like I was missing something. I didn't feel out of place or like an outcast. You guys aren't my only friends, ya know?"

"I guess, but-"

"I told Joe last night, but ever since we got these things," she pulled the digivice off the side of her shorts, "I've felt this... warmth, right here," she held her device to her chest and closed her eyes as she felt it pulse, "It's like something has been missing, a piece of me was gone and I didn't even know it. When we first met our digimon it grew stronger. I think you all felt a little bit of it too, right?" She looked to the other three and their partner digimon.

Even Joe had to nod. Gomamon and the other digimon were weird little creatures that turned into powerful big creatures, but now Joe couldn't imagine not having Gomamon by his side.

"Yeah, a little bit," Tai admitted, looking at Agumon.

"I feel it too," Sora nodded.

Lucy smiled at the three of them then at Skymomon, "I can't even imagine how we could have made it on this island without these guys, and we know they Digivolve for us. I think that's a major part of it, they are a piece of us and we're a piece of them," she held her partner, who didn't mind it one bit, "But then there's this feeling I have right now. I can't explain it real well."

"Just give it your best shot," Tai encouraged, "it's not like we'll laugh at you or anything."

"Yeah, just give it to us straight. We can take it," Joe said as if expecting a lethal prognosis.

The pink haired girl took a long deep breath to gather her thoughts, "I'm home... I never felt out of place, I said that, but I'm home now. I know it. I am _home_. This is where I belong. In the Digiworld." She said all this while looking out at the island. The pulsing in her chest spread to her whole body. She could feel it, from the warmth in her bones, that this place was where she belonged. They say home is where the heart is. Her heart was here and she didn't even know it until now.

Before anymore question's could be asked, the rest of the group made it up the mountain. Matt was in the lead, followed closely by Mimi, Izzy and TK.

"End of the line," the older blonde boy said as they made it up to the plateau, "So, what did you guys find out?"

Sora and Tai looked at each other, then back at the rest of their group, "Well, good news and bad news. The bad news is we really are on an island in the middle of nowhere with no other land in sight."

This caused the others to gasp in realization. If they had somehow been transported way out to sea, it was gonna take a long, long time for them to be found.

"What's the good news?" Mimi asked, hoping it was something that would make up for the bad news.

"I don't think we're on earth anymore," Sora said.

"How is that good news?" Izzy all but demanded.

"Well," Lucy said, peeling her eyes away from the sight of the island and the expansive ocean, "If we're not on earth, and something took us here, then there must be something to take... us... back." She hesitated on the word 'us'. She needed to go back to their world though, if only for a little while. She needed to say goodbye to her parents. They needed to at least know why she disappeared.

"Okay, but how?" TK asked. He didn't really notice Lucy pause before including herself in those that would go back home.

"We'll just have to keep looking," Tai said.

+-9

On the mountain slope down below, another digimon was making his way to the top. It was a man, for the most part, with the head of a lion. He had a thick blonde mane and tan fur covered his heavily muscled body. He wore a pair of dark grey pants with a sword held on the back horizontally and a necklace that was made of black string and red fangs. Add all this into his height of ten feet and he cut an imposing picture. His blue eyes, set into a permanent scowl, scanned the horizon.

"Another black gear," his voice was gravelly, sounding like a lion had actually decided to learn to speak English. He traced the path of the gear through the air for a moment before continuing up the mountain path. He paused though, his pointed ears flicking.

"I sense danger."

Above him, on a rock outcropping, was a green digimon of similar size. It's eyes were also blue, but they had a dangerous glint in them. He was also will muscled, but his frame looked a little less well fed, more emaciated. He had long white hair, spikes on his left shoulder, great horns on his head, and a mouth full of sharp teeth that was so large he couldn't properly close it. He wore a black loin cloth held up by a belt and held in his hand an enormous bone cudgel.

"Raah! _Pummel Whack!_" The monster called as he jumped through the air at the lion man, "Leomon! You may be mighty, but now you face me! Your kind hearted leadership is unimpressive!"

"Ogremon," Leomon growled, "you are truly the most evil of the bad digimon. There is no limit to your ruthlessness!" He drew his sword in a reverse grip and stopped the green monster's attack. Their strengths were evenly matched though, as witnessed by the simultaneous disarming. Both bone cudgel and sword flipped through the air out of their hands.

"No one wants you here," Ogremon growled back, "No one wants you here. I strongly suggest that you go now, while you still can," It was odd to see the green monstrosity speak. His lower jaw would move, but never completely closed.

"The endless attack of black gears, which keep dropping from this mountain, is transforming perfectly peaceful, innocent digimon into monsters!" Leomon told his opposite, "And I have come here to make it stop!" He took up a stance, holding one fist before him to protect his chest while he drew the other back.

"What a joke! You have been warned!" Ogremon copied this action. At the same time the two digimon punched forward. They were too far apart for a physical attack to hit, but it mattered not. Ogermon released a sickly purple blast from his fist as it launched forward. Leomon's attack looked like an orange lion's head, streaking through the air.

The two opposing attacks met half way and caused a massive shock wave that destroyed large boulders to either side of the two digimon. They growled at each other again and prepared to continue this fight.

"Both of you, stop! Cease this foolishness!" A sinister voice commanded, "I command that the two of you work together for me, not fight! You will work for me!"

"I'll never do that!" Leomon rumbled, looking around for the one who spoke.

"Neither will I!" Ogremon insisted looking in the opposite direction from Leomon.

Between the two of them, another digimon appeared, the two of them jumping away from this newcomer. He was covered, head to toe, in a black body suit. Only his mouth and his dark red eyes were uncovered. Large black horns jutted from the sides of his head and tattered wings sprouted from his back. His arms were absurdly long and skinny, with clawed fingers on each hand. The longest finger on his right hand was red instead of black. Across his chest a sinister face was painted in orange and there was a skull mark on his left shoulder.

"Be silent!" He ordered the two of them, "For I am Devimon, ultimate ruler of the demon underworld! You must obey my every command!"

"Sir," Ogremon said, realizing that Devimon was the winning side in this fight, "You don't need that joker! I can handle anything you want done without anyone's assistance!"

"I think not," Devimon dismissed his claim, "It is the Digidestined we will be fighting."

"The Digidestined?" Leomon sounded shocked, "Where are they?"

"They are already here, on Infinity Mountain," Devimon gave freely, "Now, find them and destroy the entire group!"

"Destroy them?" the lion man growled lowly, clenching his large fists, "I'll destroy you for having threatened the Digidestined! _Fist of the Beast King!_" He launched another orange lion's head attack at Devimon.

"Hah!" Devimon taunted as the attack phased right through him and he disappeared before Leomon's very eyes, "Please, Leomon. I am not requesting your cooperation, I am demanding it! Prepare for the _Touch of Evil!_" Devimon's right hand came out of the ground behind Leomon and he dug his claws deep into the lion's back. Right away black lightning arched over his body and he yelled in pain, "Now you will obey my every command!" Devimon pulled himself up by the claw in Leomon's back until he was standing behind him.

"Yes," Leomon's voice came out lower and with more growl, "I will obey." His arms hung limply at his sides for a moment, before he clenched his fists again and stood straight, a glare on his face.

+-9

Tai had moved over to the edge of the peak and hummed in concentration. He would look around with his telescope then write something down out of everyone else's view.

"What are you doing, Tai?" Agumon asked his partner.

"I'm making a map of the island," he explained simply, "That way we'll know where we are and where we've already been," this drew the attention of Matt and Izzy. A map was a surprisingly good idea. They came over to check out Tai's progress and offer help if they could.

"Yes, that works in theory," Izzy said as they approached, "What!?" The two of them looked over Tai's shoulder and found his cartography skills... lacking. It was a mass of scribbles and chicken scratch writing that they could barely understand at all, "Did you say map or mess?"

"No question, man, you are the dude of doodles," Matt quipped.

"If you follow that map it'll lead right to a headache," Sora said after coming over to see what the fuss was about.

Each comment about his map had Tai's frown getting deeper and deeper til finally he whirled around on them, "Well I can read it just fine! And that's all that's really important!"

Joe, despite how Lucy felt, did _not_ think this place was home. The view from the top of the mountain only brought him deeper into despair.

He sank to his knees, looking out over the edge, "We don't need a map to know we're totally lost. I figured that out a long time ago." Mimi, TK and Lucy stood behind him.

"I just figured out that these gloves really don't go with this dress," Mimi said despondently, looking at the brown leather gloves she wore.

"How sad," Palmon sad sincerely.

Behind them, the kids heard rock shift and move.

"What's that?" Matt asked, whipping around to see if anything was there. Nothing visible in sight, they ran back down the path to see if they could spot anything.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we're going to wait around to find out," he pointed ahead of them where the path had been destroys. There was no way for them to cross.

"At leas it wont be a long wait," Sora said as a giant lion man stood across from them on the other side of the gap. He was growling menacingly as he stood there, his fists clenched.

"Don't worry," Patamon told them with a smile, "Leomon is our friend."

"With big teeth," TK noticed.

"He just uses them for smiling," his partner said.

"He is a just leader and a role model for all digimon," Gabumon said, a little bit of hero worship in his voice.

"I want the children!" Leomon rumbled. The kids gasped, getting the idea that this was probably not the kind leader Leomon so much as the grind their bones to make his bread because of a black gear Leomon. He drew his sword and Joe gulped.

"Call me paranoid, but I think it's time we run!" No one disagreed, all of the kids and their digimon turning on their heels and making their way back up the mountain path. Leomon easily hopped the gap and chased after them.

Back at the plateau, Tai stumbled and his map slipped out of his hand.

"Oh no, my map!" He cried, running back for it.

"Tai, come back!" Agumon yelled, "Forget the map!"

Before Tai could reach the map, Leomon appeared on the sloping path.

"_Pepper Breath!_" Agumon announced from behind the wild haired boy and a fire ball shot out of his mouth. As it passed the map in the air, the intense heat set it ablaze. The attack was blocked by Leomon's sword, however, doing nothing more than slowing him down for a step.

The boy and his digimon turned and ran to catch up with the others before Leomon could catch them.

"Sorry about your map, Tai," the yellow dinosaur apologized.

"That's okay," Tai said as they ran, "At least it didn't fall into the hands of the enemy."

The two of them caught up with the others in time to hear Matt yell, "Don't slow down, Joe, he's right behind us!" They had managed to find another path down the mountain, and were taking it at a dead run.

Well, they were until a green monster appeared in front of them.

"And just where do you think you're going?" He demanded with a sadistic grin. The kid's skidded to a halt, a few of them gasping in fear when they realized they were stuck between two digimon, both wanting them for lunch, "Well, children, so good of you to stop by."

"He look hungry to you?" Patamon asked, afraid.

"We're to small to eat!" TK tried to reason, "And I'm full of junk food!"

"Well, he's not against a little snack," Gomamon said helpfully.

Looking behind them, Mimi gasped again. Leomon stood there with his sword before him.

"Make it easy on yourselves, give up now," the normally kind ruler said, "Or else!"

"I don't see an exit door," Matt said, a little panic creeping into his tone.

"This proves the theory that well executed teamwork is efficient, even for bad guys," Izzy said, keeping his cool in the face of this danger.

"But Leomon has always been Ogremon's worst enemy!" Biyomon said with the conviction of someone who knew him before hand, "What's happened to him?"

"My guess? Another black gear," Lucy said while Skymomon got ready to fight.

The two digimon approached slowly, holding their weapons at the fore.

"Ready, Leomon?" Ogremon asked, "Charge!" He jumped into the air, pulling his cudgel back to attack.

Leomon just roared as he pounced at the Digidestined. The kid's screamed and their digimon and Digivices glowed.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" The huge dinosaur took up residence on the mountain side again.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!" The wolf creature was next.

"Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!" The plant monster turned into a giant cactus yet again. The three of them stopped Leomon from getting to the kids, while on the other side, the other three digimon capable of Digivolution did so as well.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" she immediately took to the air to make space for the others to evolve, knocked Ogremon back with her wings.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!" The bug digimon hovered off to the side of the path giving Gomamon enough room for his change.

"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" Again, the giant white form of Gomamon's evolution showed up.

Above them all, unseen but watching, was Devimon, "They've all digivolved!" he exclaimed.

Back on the path, Matt grabbed TK's hand and pulled him behind a boulder on the path, "Come with me, TK," he ordered.

"Aw," the boy moaned his disappointment. He wanted to watch the fight.

"You should hide too, Lucy," Joe told the girl.

She nodded and grabbed Skymomon, "Hey, wait! I can fight too!"

"They'll take care of it Skymomon," Lucy told her partner.

"Let 'em have it, Greymon!" Tai shouted.

"_Nova Blast!_" The giant fireball streaked towards Leomon, who was barely able to block the much larger digimon's attack with his sword.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Ikkakumon shouted as he launched horns from his forehead through the air at Ogremon.

"_Needle Spray!_" Togemon cried as she shot thousands of needles at the lion digimon.

He roared with pain, unable to block all the tiny projectiles.

"Listen up!" Tai called, while the rest of the group hid behind the bolder, "Everybody all together now!"

'_They have learned the secret of teamwork,_' Devimon thought as he looked down at the battle below, '_This group of six attacking together is quite dangerous! But why haven't the Patamon or Skymomon Digivolved?_'

"Are you ready?" Tai yelled.

In response, Greymon prepared to launch another Nova Blast. Before he could let it go though, an avalanche roared into life, sending humongous rocks flying towards the children and digimon below.

"_Howling Blaster!_" Garurumon yelled, destroying one of the huge rocks.

"_Meteor Wing!_" Birdramon's fire joined in.

"_Electro Shocker!_" Kabuterimon threw in his effort.

"_Nova Blast!_" Greymon rounded off the team, sending his fireball into the fray.

The combined strength of all those attacks was enough to turn the falling rocks into little more than dust.

"Oh wow, everyone alright?" Tai called, looking over to the boulder. The kids popped their heads up over the side.

"Oh yeah," Matt said sarcastically, "Like a day at the beach!"

"I think I need a facial," Mimi worried.

The sound of their partners going back to their normal forms had Tai turning around, expecting Leomon to jump to the offensive. But both he and Ogremon were nowhere to be found.

"Agumon! Speak to me!" The poor little guy, along with every other digimon to Digivolve that day were passed out on the ground.

"We're okay, Tai, we're all just exhausted," The dinosaur said. Matt ran over to Gabumon, helping the little guy to his own feet.

"Two Digivolutions in one day, it's no wonder you're tired."

"Poor Biyo," Sora commented, holding the head of her digimon in her lap.

"Hey, what happened to the bad guys?" Izzy asked, noticing they weren't being attacked in their moment of weakness.

"They just disappeared," Tai told them, having been the only one to stay out to try and direct the fight.

"Are you sure?" Palmon asked, not sounding convinced.

"Do you think that avalanche knocked them both off the cliff?" Gabumon wondered.

Joe moved to the edge carefully and looked down. He didn't see anything, but turned back to the others with his idea, "Unless they can fly, their goners."

"Neither one of them had wings," Sora said, looking over the edge as well, "So I'm sure they weren't air worthy."

"Nothing is logical here," Joe complained, "anything is bound to happen, including flying monsters!"

"For once I agree with you, Joe," the girl told him.

Tai was staring up the mountain, his hand on his chin, thinking about that avalanche.

"Something bothering you?" Agumon asked him.

"It's that avalanche," Tai told him, "I can't figure out what set it off."

Izzy stepped up to explain it, "Stress accumulates until a crack develops and, with excess weight, the terra firma suddenly isn't so firma."

"Ya think so?" Tai said, still pondering, "It looked to me like something blasted it loose." The kids were already walking down the mountain, deciding not to wait around to see if Ogremon and Leomon would come back.

"That's not the only thing that's suspicious," Lucy said, still holding onto Skymomon.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"Well, didn't the two of them, Leomon and Ogremon, seem really well organized?"

"Yeah," Gomamon said, "but Leomon is a great leader and has fought countless battles in the past. He might have planned the ambush."

"I don't really think so," Lucy shook her head, "look back at all the others who were victims of the black gears. They barely had any kind of planning, they were just berserkers. But this attack... No, I think someone was directing them this time."

"Who?" TK asked from Matt's side.

"I wish I knew, but if something is controlling those gears, I bet that's the digimon to see about who was controlling Leomon and Ogremon," the pink haired girl said.

Above them, looking down at them again, Devimon stood, glaring at them, '_They are more powerful than I suspected. But I shall strike while they are exhausted and destroy them all!_' A fanged grin spread across his face at that.

+-9

By the time the kids had made it all the way back down the mountain, the sun was getting low in the sky. Joe and Lucy in particular were beginning to have trouble keeping their eyes open. They had little to no sleep the night before, and then they'd climbed up and down a humongous mountain.

"I'm intrigued that our digimon were able to Digivolve twice in one day," Izzy said aloud.

"Well, it was sure lucky for us that they were able to do it," Tai said, walking with his hands behind his head.

"I think the digimon are growing stronger," Sora said, "I wonder if that's a normal part of their evolution, or if we're being out something special in them."

"A fascinating hypothesis," Izzy nodded in deference to her, "If only we could test it."

"I think today was too much for them," Matt said as he watched Gabumon and Biyomon trudge along tiredly.

"Palmon's looking very tired," Mimi agreed. The plant digimon was hardly able to keep her eyes open as she walked, relying on her partner to keep her from running into a tree or something.

"I've been tired before, don't worry," She said rather unconvincingly.

"Admit it, Palmon, we need to stop and rest," Biyomon sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling too hot myself," Lucy said, rubbing one eye. The only two digimon who didn't look completely worn down were Patamon and Skymomon and the two of them could probably sleep too if they wanted to.

"You know, to be perfectly honest, I think that would be a good idea for all of us," Joe said as the group stopped walking.

"Rest where?" Sora asked, "I don't want to sleep on the ground," even she, the tomboy of the group, was tired of sleeping in the dirt.

"Look!" Joe shouted, excitedly pointing off to the left of their set path.

All the kids and digimon turned to see what he was pointing at and surpised grins began to fall over their faces.

"No way," Lucy breathed.

"A mansion!" Joe went on to say. It was indeed a large building, light yellow walls with a blue roof and three towers pointing up to the sky. It had two levels and hundreds of windows, hinting at tons of rooms.

"Or maybe it's a hotel!" Tai exclaimed, "Let's check it out! Come on!" The kids all ran forward, the digimon right behind them.

"We may have found other life forms," Izzy said as the ran up on the well maintained path, "I mean, look at the grounds! Somebody has to be around to mow the lawn."

"I can't believe my eyes! It's just too good to be true!" He stopped, about fifty feet out.

"I hope the have a hot tub," Joe said as he came up beside their unofficial leader, "as long as it's not too hot." He began to run forward again, preferring to be inside sleeping than out here staring.

"Wait, you guys!" Tai called after the older boy and Matt who joined him, "Don't just go running in there, it could be dangerous!" Neither one paid him any heed.

"Hey, was this on your map?" Agumon asked his partner.

"Somehow, I don't think so," he shook his head.

"Go ahead, Joe," Matt urged, "Open the door."

"Shouldn't I knock first?"

"You don't knock at a hotel!" The blonde boy exclaimed.

"This place should be on your map," Agumon told Tai.

"Mm-hmm, but if you'll remember, you burnt up my map," Tai said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Oh yeah," the digimon chuckled a little nervously at Tai's frown.

"Well, here goes," Joe said, bracing himself as he pushed the large double doors. The opened easily, not even creaking, revealing a low light lobby with red carpeting and beautiful interior, "I don't see a desk clerk. Anybody here!" he shouted into the mansion, taking a few steps inside. Only his own voice echoed back.

"Looks weird," Tai said, walking up to the doorway.

"Feels weird," Matt added.

"Well, it doesn't look or feel weird to me," Joe said plaintively as he walked further into the lobby.

"Perhaps my definition of weird is different than yours," Izzy told the taller boy.

"I'm with you," Sora told the computer genius. Her gut was telling her that this just felt wrong, like a trap.

"Think about it! Are we safer out in with no shelter, or in here a sturdy building we can defend from attack?" Joe asked the other four as he turned around.

Matt crossed his arms, "I have to admit, you have a point."

"I could seriously use a good nights sleep in a bed," Lucy said as she walked up with Mimi, TK and the digimon.

"That's beautiful!" TK exclaimed, looking behind Joe.

"Huh?" The tallest boy in the group turned to look, seeing a beautifully painted picture of an angel on the wall, "Oh, yeah."

"Lookit!" TK said to Patamon as they approached the painting, "It's an angel."

"What's an angel, TK?" the little tan colored digimon asked.

"It's something special that watches over you," TK said with a smile as he looked down at his friend, "Kinda like you guys!"

"If this was a spooked out, haunted house, would there be pictures of angels hanging on the walls?" Joe said, trying to get the others to agree to stay the night there, "I don't think so!"

"Relax," Sora said softly, "We just want to be careful," she placed her hands on her hips, "And talk quieter. You'll wake everybody up." On the ground near the five kids staying near the door, all the digimon that had Digivolved that day were already counting sheep.

"They're out like a light," Matt commented.

"I hope they have a dress shop," Mimi said, still looking at the picture of the angel, "I've never worn the same thing two days in a row before." The other kids gently woke up there digimon and ushered them inside, closing the doors behind them.

"Let's take a nap later," Izzy told their partners.

"Looks like we missed the summer rush," Tai said, looking around the lobby. There wasn't a single hint of another person anywhere that he could see.

"We keep missing everything," Sora said.

"This is one kooky, mixed up world," Tai replied before heading for the stairs to the second floor, "Let's go."

Before he could however, Agumon and Gabumon, who were so tired they'd fallen asleep yet again in those few moments of inactivity, suddenly woke up.

"Do you smell that?" Gabumon asked while Agumon began to follow his nose.

"What? I don't smell anything," Matt said, "What is it?"

"It's the delicious odor of food!" The fur coat wearing digimon exclaimed.

"Food?" the entire group all but yelled back.

"Are you sure?" Matt asked, hoping against hope.

"Very sure, and plenty of it."

"Show us where, Gabumon!" He commanded.

"It's this way! Follow me!" Gabumon ran off, past the stairs.

"Wait for us!" Sora said excitedly, she and the others chasing after the digimon that had promised them food. TK and Mimi even left the angel painting. Patamon kept staring at it for a couple of seconds then noticed everyone leaving him behind.

"Hey, wait for me!" he hurried along after them.

Gabumon lead the group to a large dining hall with unerring accuracy. The scent of the meal to come was leading the way and the digimon never stopped running till they reached it.

"Look at that spread!" Tai said upon seeing the extra long table. It was filled with every kind of food the kids would want to eat. Ham, steak, fruits, chicken, seafood, everything.

"Wow!" Joe was actually so happy to see all the food laid out like that he was shedding tears of joy.

Matt just crossed his arms, "Sorry for saying this everybody, but this looks like a set up."

"Matt is right," Sora said, "This could be some sort of trap."

The digimon, however, couldn't resist, trap or not, they were already stuffing their faces.

"Wait!" Tai exclaimed, "Agumon, are you sure that's okay to eat?"

"Everyone's eating, but their table manners are appalling," Mimi said.

"Maybe that's 'cause they like," TK supposed.

Joe watched for a little while, trying to spot any immediate sign of poison in the digimon.

"That's it!" The boy exclaimed, closing his eyes and holding his fists before him, "I can't bare to look any longer! I'm gonna eat it, at least I wont die hungry!" Joe pulled out a chair, sitting down and piling food onto his plate while the rest of the kids watched, "On your mark, get set," he never said go, just started eating.

"Uh..." Tai intoned, his gaze narrowing, "Hmm." The others looked from Joe and the food to each other then back again. Their resolve didn't last long however.

"Lobster!" Mimi exclaimed happily as she sat down, "Maitre d, is there a table with a view?"

"Oh! Look at all these grapes!" Lucy grinned happily, "Mm-mm-mm! And they're so tart!"

"Mm! Peanut butter and pickles! This is the best pizza ever!" TK said excitedly as he piled another slice onto his plate.

"Okay, if one of us gets sick, we all get sick," Tai said, the last one to sit down and start to eat, "That's teamwork too!" The feast was on and the children couldn't have been happier. Food was passed around along with good cheer till both the digimon and humans were full. There would even be left overs in the morning!

"What now?" Izzy asked as he sat there patting his stomach.

"I'd like to find a nice, warm bath before bed," Mimi said, a blissful look on her face.

"That's certainly got my vote!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I could do with a good soak," Tai said with his hands behind his head, "With all the running we've been doing lately, it's been like an endless game of soccer. Now would be a good time to let it all run off."

"I'm all for that," Matt agreed.

Walking around the mansion for only another five or so minutes found a hot spring bath with a large wall to separate it into two sides for each gender.

"It's perfect!" Mimi said, clapping her hands. She stripped down and grabbed a towel, that she set on the side of the spring. Sora, Lucy and their digimon were quick to follow.

Over on the other side of the wall, Matt, TK, and Izzy were already in the water when Tai jumped in.

"Watch out, Matt!" was his only warning as the water splashed up in the air.

"Hey! Watch the hair, dude!" Matt said, protecting his do.

"Oh, is that what that is? I thought a bird made a nest on your head!" Tai laughed, his own wild hair sagging with the dampness.

TK just laughed, bubbles coming from his mouth. Patamon was floating along beside him, enjoying the warmth after such a large meal.

Izzy was sitting next to Tentomon, rubbing the side of his face with a wash rag, "This warm water is excellent for removing soil and epidermis," he commented, "You know, dirt and dead skin."

"Whenever my skin gets dirty, I just shed it," Tentomon said.

"That would be rather difficult for me," Izzy said, grimacing at the thought of doing something like that.

"Uh, may I join you?" Joe asked, keeping his hand on the towel around his waist.

"Hey, Joe," Matt greeted the oldest member of the group, "Don't be shy, there aren't any girls here. Come on in. So far, we haven't found any sharks in the water."

"No big ones," Tai said with a joking grin.

"It looks cold," Joe complained, desperately trying to keep his towel on, not even going near the bath.

"Human's can be so silly," Patamon made a note.

"Human's aren't the only silly ones," Tentomon told the digimon that hadn't evolved yet, "Where's Gabumon?"

"He's not silly, just shy," the wing eared little guy said. Indeed. Gabumon was out in the hall. He had removed the fur coat from his left arm, but he couldn't force himself to go any farther with it. His hand just stopped. A blush of embarrassment and shame was on his face as he stood outside the bath, listening to them.

"Well, I'll get in," Joe said, "but I wont guarantee that I'll like it."

Back on the girl's side, Mimi, Sora and Lucy were all sitting next to each other. Lucy and Mimi had let their hair down.

"Why do they have to be so noisy?" Sora asked, looking up at the wall separating the two sides.

"Relax," Mimi said softly, her eyes closed in bliss.

"I've never been more relaxed in my life," Gomamon sighed as he floated by on his back.

The girls screamed indignantly, holding their arms over their bodies.

"Gabumon! You're not supposed to be over here!" Biyomon glared at him.

"Get back to the boy's side!" Palmon snapped, using her Poison Ivy attack to wrap him in her vines and throw him over the wall.

"Hey! Let me go!" He cried before splashing into the boy's side of the bath.

"Gomamon, where's you come from?" Joe asked, having barely dodged the digital seal.

Lucy took a deep breath and heaved a pleased sigh, "You gotta admit, this is all pretty great."

"Totally," Sora agreed, leaning back against the rocks in the bath again. For a few moments the three girls and their digimon just soaked before Sora looked over at Lucy with one eye. She thought about what the girl said earlier in the morning, about this place being home. Did she mean that she'd been here before somehow? She needed to ask.

"Lucy," Sora began.

"Yeah?" she asked, soaking up the warm waters.

"About what you said this morning..." Sora trailed off, hoping that the girl would fill in the blanks for her.

Lucy sighed and opened her eyes. She studied the water, hoping it would give her a good way to explain it.

"Have you ever felt something so strongly that you just believed it, no matter what anyone else told you?" she eventually asked.

"Hmm?" Mimi hummed, looking towards the ceiling as she put her finger to her chin, "I believe in Santa Claus, does that count?"

"I don't think that's what she meant, Mimi," Sora said, "I want to be a sports star. World famous, you know? I believe I can do it if I work at it."

"I'm rooting for you then, and believing in Santa does count. It's kind of like that for me," she placed her hand on her chest, "I can feel it right here. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that this place is my home."

"You mean this mansion is yours? I never would have guessed," Mimi said, stars in her eyes.

Lucy smiled at the older girl and shook her head, "No, Mimi, I don't own this place. I mean to say that this island, this whole world. I was meant to be here. I didn't know it till we got here, but I've always belonged here. I believe that, no matter what."

Mimi lifted an eyebrow at that, "Well, I hope that they have malls somewhere around here. Just for your sake if you stay here."

Lucy giggled, "Me too, Mimi."

Sora was even smiling about that. She only wondered about what the girl's parents would think about this development.

+-9

After the bath, and finding out that the place provided bath robes, the kids and digimon made their ways to a room near the dining room. They brought their clothing with them, having been unable to find a clothing store. They were going to get separate rooms at first but Joe convinced them that it would be a bad idea if a digimon attacked and they had to go around and wake everyone up one by one to warn them about it.

Luckily, the first room they walked into had eight beds, four on each side.

"Wow," Matt breathed. TK and Patamon just ran into the room and picked a bed, jumping in, laughing happily as they bounced.

"The only thing better is bunk beds!" Matt's little brother exclaimed.

"This is awesome," Lucy said as she ran to another bed, close to the door. Mimi crawled into a bed just to her right and Sora to her left. Skymomon crawled under the covers from the end of the bed and leaned back on one of the two pillows.

"Oh, wow!" the digimon said, "It's so soft!"

"I agree, I've only slept on beds this soft in my dreams," Izzy said as he and Tentomon got into another bed, marveling at the texture.

"Oh, how I've missed on sleeping on soft, silky sheets," Mimi said, a look of contentment on her face. Sora just shrugged, she actually wished her mattress was a little more firm, but wasn't willing to complain about having a bed at all.

"I'll tell you what I don't miss," Joe said, adjusting his glasses, "I don't miss hiking through the blazing hot desert. And another thing I really don't miss is starving in the jungle." He looked up and realized he'd brought everyone down again, "Oh, we are a long way from home."

Lucy sighed, as much as she felt right here, there were still some things she felt that it might be nice to have from the human world.

"Sorry," Joe said, he really didn't mean to ruin the good mood like that.

"That's okay, Joe," Tai said, "We all miss being home, and I'm sure we're all wondering if we'll ever get back there."

"I'll bet our disappearance caused a big fuss at school and all over town," Matt said as he lay down with his hand behind his head, "But we've been gone so long, everybody must've given up looking for us by now."

"Mom and dad wouldn't have stopped," TK said, rolling over to his side with the blanket pulled up.

Mimi sighed in depression, "I'm homesick. Aren't you?"

"We'll find our way back. Don't worry, Mimi," Sora said, trying to keep her from going into depression.

"Let's just go to sleep and try to have nice dreams," Mimi said, sinking down to lay on her back.

The others nodded, and sank down, pulling the blankets up to there shoulders. Those with lights by their beds turned them off.

+-9

"_Touch of Evil!_"

Lucy startled awake as she felt her bed move. She opened her eyes just before any of the others, and screamed just like all the others did when she realized, not only was the bath robe gone, so was the mansion. Ogremon and Leomon had Tai and matt cornered. If it were any other situation and she'd seen the blue underwear the unofficial leader was wearing it might have been funny, but with that black wearing digimon in the background, his hand seeming to glow with the energy that was directing the beds through the air, she really wasn't in a laughing mood.

"Because together you are strong, I will scatter you throughout the digital world," The large black digimon said.

"Oh no!" Skymomon panicked, "It's Devimon! He's a really bad guy, the worst of the worst! Between him and a horde of hungry Seadramon, I'd go with the horde." Then she grimaced, losing her energy, "Oh my, why am I so weak?"

Down on the ground the same thing was happening to Agumon. The other digimon weren't doing any better, it was like they hadn't eaten at all.

"The food, the bath, the building," Devimon said with a cruel smirk, "None of it was real. I created all of it in your imagination."

"Listen you!" Tai shouted bravely, if not a little foolishly, "If you don't bring back all my friends you're going to be in big trouble!"

"That's amusing, but my concerns are much more important than your _friends_!" he spat out the last word.

"That's my only concern!" Tai said back, "You bring 'em back now!"

"Oh, man, Tai's a goner," Lucy whimpered.

"Bring them back? You impudent brat! You dare to order me!" He slowly uncrossed his arms, and held his hands out in front of him, "Allow me to show you who's really in control here!"

Luckily for the quake phobic girl, she wasn't on the ground when it began to rumble.

Tai and Agumon weren't so fortunate. They went through the full experience.

"You see, I have discovered the secret of the black gears from below," Visible from where they were, Infinity mountain began to split open till part of the face of the mountain fell away showing humongous black gears grinding on the inside of the mountain, "I call them forth to do my bidding!" The island itself began to split apart into several different pieces, drifting out to sea, "You and your friends happened upon this tiny island, which is just a fragment of the old world," as the island split apart, the children flew off in different directions as well, separated as Devimon had promised, "Scattered across an enormous ocean. You pretend not to know nothing of this, but I am aware you are the Digidestined, who were sent to rescue this world from my domination!"

"You've got us all wrong! We were just some kids at summer camp who, somehow, got sucked into your world!" Tai told the evil digimon, trying to get him to stop this attack.

"Your little act no longer amuses me," Devimon said, "It's time to bring an end to the digidestined!"

The last thing that Lucy saw of Tai as her bed flew quickly towards a section of the forest was Leomon approaching him, drawing his sword.

"Tai!" She screamed, holing desperately onto the head board as she was tossed through the air. She took a moment to try and see if she could spot where the others were being sent, but only TK was close enough to guess. He was sent to a piece of the island that had a little village in it that she could just barely see in the nights darkness.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay!" Lucy prayed, holding one hand to her chest, Skymomon holding onto the headboard right next to him.

"Don't worry Lucy, Agumon is with him, and the others have their digimon with them too," she rubbed her partner's back with her prehensile tail, "It'll all be okay."

"I really hope so, Skymomon," the little girl said as her bed approached the ground at speed.

"It's gonna be okay," the monkey digimon said with one final assurance, "You just gotta have faith."

Chapter Eight: End.

Please Enjoy.


	9. Chapter 9 Kuwagamon vs SkyYetimon

I do not own Digimon.

Chapter Nine: Kuwagamon vs SkyYetimon

Lucy's first reaction upon landing on the piece of the island that she'd been sent to was yelp of fear. It was easy to assume that Devimon would have just threw the kids away with all his might, hoping they'd splat when they landed. Luckily, for whatever reason, that's not what happened.

The bed rocked, the frame broke and the girl and her digimon rolled out of the bed a little roughly, causing the girl to scrape her knee, but that was the worst injury she'd received in the landing. She quickly found the bundle containing her clothes and donned them while Skymomon kept watch.

"I don't suppose you have any idea what part of the island we landed on?" Lucy asked the digimon as she pulled her red hoodie over her yellow undershirt.

"Well, the area does look a little familiar," Skymomom nodded, "But mostly the other digimon and I stayed on the mountain where we met you."

Lucy sighed, "Too bad. Oh well. Let's see if we can't do something about getting to the others." She stood up, putting her gloves on, "At least we didn't land on one of the icy portions."

"You can say that again, then we'd be tired, cold _and_ hungry," Skymomon said, holding her growling stomach.

The pink haired girl sent a look at the little digimon and nodded. She was feeling the pangs of hunger herself. She remembered Devimon saying that everything but the beds had been an illusion he'd created. Now she was really feeling it.

"Let's get some goodies to eat," she said to Skymomon, "We'll see if we can't find any of those berries you like."

"Yeah!" the winged digimon said, excitement for her favorite food showing through.

The journey to find food was short. Not that they didn't find any, just that the food here was rather in abundance. It was a bit harder to find it in the dark, but that was solved with the use of Skymomon's nose. They weren't able to catch any fish, but that was okay because Lucy didn't have anything to start a fire and Skymomon's attack was wind based.

"Wow," the monkey digimon said, looking at the small pile of fruits and berries they collected in about twenty minutes, "This'll totally make up for all the food we didn't eat back at the mansion!"

Lucy completely agreed, even if some of the fruits were things she hadn't seen, even on this island. The biggest number of edibles they'd found were more of those berries Skymomon liked. Each one of them looked like someone had turned a tie-dye T-shirt into a seed and planted it as a berry bush. There were some things that looked like apples, but they were pink, blue and orange instead of the usual red or green

The girl held one of the orange ones before her speculatively, trying to determine if it would even taste like a normal apple or something else entirely. She shrugged. Everything else on this island had been okay to eat. Even those weird melons.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," the girl mumbled before taking a large bite of the apple. She gasped, then chewed happily, "It tastes like a kiwi!" she said after swallowing her current mouthful.

The monkey digimon was chowing down and couldn't answer at the moment, but her pleased, blissful smile was answer enough. She was obviously glad to be fed and glad that Lucy was eating too.

The food lasted for about ten minutes. Lucy had a few more apples and a handful of the berries. Skymomon had everything else.

"Wow, Skymomon," Lucy said as she looked at the little creature, "You've got to tell me your secret! You ate all that food and haven't gained an ounce of body fat!"

The monkey just tilted her head to one side, "I think it's a digimon thing."

"Well, shoot," the girl said with mock depression, but she turned serious for a moment, "Next thing we need to do is find shelter, at least until morning. Dark as it is, we'll never get anywhere out here," she looked back to the bed with the silky sheets and soft mattress longingly, "I don't think I trust that thing not to lift off and start flying again if we get on it."

"Ditto," Skymomon nodded, "but maybe we can find a hiding tree."

"What's a hiding tree?" the girl asked, getting to her feet while her partner took to the air.

"It's a big tree that you can hid inside of. There's a few of them scattered around File Island. Motimon, that is, Tentomon found one a while ago, but he never told us how. I think he just found it by accident and didn't want to admit it."

Lucy pondered that for a moment. Hiding trees? That sounded ridiculous, like something you'd find in... the Digiworld. Maybe it wasn't so ridiculous after all.

"Let's see if we can find one then. That meal was great, but I'm still tired," Lucy said to her partner. The monkey grinned wide, showing her pearly whites, and began inspecting the tropical trees on the portion of the island they'd landed on.

Within the first five minutes of the search, they'd had no luck at all. Lucy had asked what made a hiding tree look different and Skymomon had said nothing, just that you could walk inside on, when you certainly could not with other trees. Within the first three minutes Lucy had a better plan than feeling every tree on their path.

"Why don't we each pick up a stick and hit the trees as we walk, then we don't have to stop for every tree," Lucy suggested, picking up a large branch that had fallen from one of the numerous trees on their little chunk of File Island.

"That's good enough for me," the digimon said, picking up her own branch.

The search went much quicker this was, but they still weren't finding anything. It was gonna be a long night. And Lucy had already been tired from before.

"Lucy," Skymomon asked after a few minutes, "do you think the others are okay?"

The girl smiled a little, "Yeah, they are definitely okay. I mean, someone important to me told me that they were, so I believe them."

"Huh?" the digimon turned her head to one side, "Who told you that?"

"You did, silly," Lucy grinned, "When we were flying off you told me that everyone would be okay, I just had to believe."

"Oh yeah!" the monkey giggled, "I guess I did!"

"You were right, you know," Lucy told her.

"About what?"

"That everyone is okay. I know because, even if they get into a tight spot, they'll have their digimon with them, just like I've got you."

"Hee hee!" Skymomon grinned proudly at that, her face flushing a little to know that her partner trusted her so much.

+-9

The search went on for two hours before Lucy sank to her knees with a yawn. Skymomon wasn't far behind her.

"I don't think there's a hiding tree here," Lucy mumbled rubbing her eyes.

"Me neither," Skymomon said as she lay down with her head on her hands.

"Hey," Lucy said, prodding her digimon, "we can't fall asleep here. A digimon might come by, or Devimon."

"I'm not sleeping," her partner said, very unconvincingly as she curled her tail around herself, "just... resting my eyes..."

Lucy, who was beginning to lean forward, her head bowing and one eye already stubbornly closed, stared at the digimon for a few seconds. She was honestly trying to decide whether or not to wake her little friend up and try to keep going, or just give it up as a futile search and sleep right there.

She decided on a mix of the two. She carefully gathered her partner into her arms and stood up with more than a little struggle. She started a slow trudge, looking for somewhere to lay down for the night. There had to somewhere that was at least slightly more protected than laying down right there in the open.

Another thirty minutes of walking was all it took. No, the girl didn't find one of those trees, or anything else for that matter, but thirty minutes of carrying her digimon with two days of very little sleep on her back as well, Lucy sank down once again, falling onto her back, one arm wrapped around her partner to keep her close.

Ten seconds, that's all it took for her to fall asleep.

+-9

Something was stomping through the trees. It was knocking them out of the way angrily, smashing through the landscape. The ground rumbled with its footsteps and small bird digimon scattered from the trees at its approach.

It was large, orange and disturbingly familiar. It had black markings on its carapace, large pincers on its head, scissor like claws in place of hands and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It stomped through the jungle, tracing a familiar scent.

By the time the sun rose, it had found its prey, sleeping peacefully on the ground. It hesitated for a moment, wondering how, exactly, it should go about waking them up. Part of the fun was the chase.

While it stood there trying to think, a bit of saliva dripped out of its mouth onto the girl below. Lucy mumbled in her sleep, swiping unconsciously at the wet spot, but when another large drop of digimon spit landed on her face she was begrudgingly wrestled away from her dreamland. She sat up slowly, Skymomon sliding into her lap, and she rubbed the corners of her eyes. She really hoped whatever woke her up would just let her go back to sleep peacefully.

Opening one green eye, she was treated to the sight of two large, orange, insectoid legs. Opening both eyes, then blinking to make sure she wasn't imagining things, she traced the legs upwards to a large exoskeletal torso and from there to the head.

"Oh boy," she gasped, mindful of how loud she was. She began shaking the shoulder of her digimon partner. The monkey rolled over, making annoyed muttering about how early it was, staying quite stubbornly asleep.

"Skymomon!" Lucy hissed, not taking her eyes off the familiar bug digimon, "Please, wake up!"

"Nnng, whazzit, Lucy?" Skymomon slurred, her eyes slowly opening. She noticed the same thing the girl did and her eyes traced the same path skyward, "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh," Lucy repeated back to her digimon before looking down at her partner, "Come on," She whispered, very quietly getting to her feet, "Maybe if we're super quiet we can get away before he notices."

Kuwagamon, for that's who it was, unfortunately had finally picked a method to wake the two up by that point and looked down, only to find the two of them tip toeing away. It roared with hunger and delight.

"Or we could run for our lives!" Skymomon yelled, zooming off into the forest.

"I like that plan!" Lucy replied, following her digimon.

Skymomon took to the air, another roar in its throat and the chase was on.

Dashing between the trees only slowed down the human and her digimon, while Kuwagamon could simply slice right through them on each pass, so the two of them just kept to a straight path, only dodging to one side or the other when the giant beetle was too close to alter course.

"Deja vu," Lucy panted as they ran from the hungry bug digimon, "Do you think he's got a black gear in him too?"

"I think he's just that mean," Skymomon said back, "Duck!" She dropped to the ground right beside her partner as she curled into a ball as the giant bug digimon passed them by, cutting down a few more trees.

"Right now would be an awesome time for you to Digivolve," the little girl cried out as they took off to the left, trying to throw their pursuer off. It hadn't worked yet, but it had kept them from getting a lethal hair cut.

"I agree!" Skymomon said, visibly concentrating on the connection she had with the human girl.

"Nothing's happening," Lucy complained, looking behind her to see the giant bug approaching again.

"I know, I just can't do it! What do we do?" the little digimon quailed, afraid for both her partner's life and her own.

"We keep running, maybe it'll come to you!" Lucy snatched her partner out of the way of one of Kuwagamon's pincers, the claw coming so close as to shave a little fur off the end of the monkey's tail.

"Thanks," she breathed.

"No problem! Keep going!" Lucy lead the way through the forest now, dodging left or right whenever the need arose.

Up in the air, Kuwagamon was getting annoyed. This wasn't supposed to be this hard. Sure, it was tough before, what with the entire group their having their digimon attack him, then evolve right in front of him, but one little morsel and her digimon entre` were not supposed to be that hard to catch. He roared his frustration to the heavens, making another swift buzz over the forest.

"Oh no!" Lucy said, skidding to a halt, "Another deja vu!" She cried, seeing the end of the island. The only place they'd have to fall now was the ocean below, "Maybe we will have a chance to run for it!" she turned around and took only a few steps forward before Kuwagamon landed before them with a massive thud that caused the ground to quiver. Lucy made a squeaking sound in fear of the earth moving, but was mostly able to suppress it in the face of her inevitable demise if she just curled up into a ball.

"Lucy! Get back!" Skymomon shouted, winging forward, "I'll protect you!" She gained altitude and charged up her special attack, "_Whirlwind Fist!_" the miniature fist shaped tornado slammed into Kuwagamon's head, but without all the other digimon their to help with the attack, it did little more than annoy the giant insectoid.

He roared in anger and slammed the digimon to the ground with such force that the ground cracked.

"Skymomon!" Lucy cried, running forward to her digimon, trying to help her up even while Kuwagamon continued his eerily slow approach, as if savoring the meal to come.

"Lucy, I'm sorry," the digimon whimpered, "I can't protect you after all."

"Yes you can, Skymomon," Lucy insisted, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes again at seeing her partner so hurt from trying to save her skinny hide, "I know you can. You just have to Digivolve, like Agumon and Gabumon and the others."

Kuwagamon licked his chops as he took another step forward. The chase had been surprisingly difficult, but this would be worth it, he could smell how good they would taste.

"I can't," the little monkey digimon said plaintively, "I've been trying since he started to chase us, but nothing at all has worked."

"You can!" Lucy said, determination flashing in her eyes, "I know that you can! You've been with me the entire time we've been here, protecting me, being my friend! You told me to have a little faith in my friends, Skymomon, well, I do! I have faith in you!"

Kuwagamon gave off a roar of victory as he lashed forward with one claw to grab the digimon and her partner.

Lucy's Digivice began to glow brightly, and Skymomon corresponded with that by a glow of her own. The familiar high pitched keening filled the air and the white bar code shot into the air before the rainbow light came back down and hit Skymomon.

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!" Skymomon was a little blue monkey with green wings. SkyYetimon was not. Standing at just over half of Kuwagamon's height, she had light, light blue fur, four green wings on her back, and skirt of leaves around her waist. Her over all figure was vaguely feminine, with the hour glass figure being dominant, but it was more than easy to tell she wasn't human. She green braids had turned into only long green braid that reached her much longer and still prehensile tail. Her upper arms and legs were normal for her size, but from her knees and elbows down they expanded outwards to be huge with thick corded muscle. The ears on the side of her head lengthened and crinkled like a thunderbolt and her head band turned from brown to leaf green.

The evolved form of Skymomon caught the claw with her large forearms, and instead of cutting into them, was stopped.

"Wow!" Lucy yelled out in awe at her digimon's evolved form, "Get him SkyYetimon!"

A glint of amusement crossed through the digimon's blue eyes and she looked up at Kuwagamon, "You heard the girl, big boy, let's go for a ride!" with that, SkyYetimon kicked the giant beetle away from herself and took to the air with a few flaps of her double set of wings.

Kuwagamon roared angrily and opened the back of his carapace and began to beat his wings, lifting into the sky right after her. He swooped towards her, slashing at her with his claws.

SkyYetimon just dodged to the side and punched him into the side, sending him tumbling through the air. She followed this up with a tackle, pushing him further out to sea.

"I think you need to cool off!" she yelled, cupping her large hands together over her head. Wind began to swirl to life from the point her hands were held until it became a humongous green tornado. SkyYetimon began to swing it around to gain centrifugal force then shouted out the name of her technique as she slammed it down on the bugs head, "_Tornado Hammer!_"

The green tornado smashed into Kuawagamon with great effect, sending the bug digimon tumbling downwards in a swirling, twisting mess of limbs and angry roars. He splashed into the ocean below and was quickly left behind as he struggled to swim.

SkyYetimon moved back to the island with a good amount of swiftness and kneeled down before Lucy. The little girl just ran forward with a big smile on her face, leaping into the arms of her digimon and hugging her tightly. Her partner held her close, a grin of her own on her face.

"I knew you could do it! I knew you could Digivolve!" Lucy gushed, laughing with relief and joy as she rubbed her face against the fuzzy chest of her partner.

"Only because of you, Lucy, without you, I never could have done this," she held the girl closer to her chest for a moment, the two of them just resting in the comfort of being alive after that energetic chase.

"Now," SkyYetimon said, pulling back to look into the eyes of her friend with a smile across her face, "I believe I offered you a ride through the sky when I Digivolved."

"Really?" Lucy asked, stars in her eyes.

"Absolutely. Now, hold on tight, here we go!" She stood up, holding the ten year old carefully in her arms. She spread her wings and lifted into the air. They were only a few hundred feet in the air and already Lucy was marveling at the view.

"This is so awesome, SkyYetimon!" she yelled over the whipping wind, "It's beautiful!"

As they rose higher and higher into the air, the two of them were able to see all of the different pieces of the island. Off to the east, Lucy could see the piece that she thought TK fell on, "Over there, SkyYetimon! I think I saw TK land there!"

"Right! We're going in for a landing!" The flying digimon angled downwards and began her approach. It was quite the sight to see from the ground, a giant monkey digimon with four wings, holding a pink haired human girl gliding down towards the island.

Once they had safely landed on the outskirts of the island, SkyYetimon turned back into Skymomon in a flash of light. The little monkey digimon wiped her brow and breathed outward with some effort, "Wow, Digivolving is hungry work! I think I need breakfast before I do that again," the digimon said.

"No time for it now," Lucy said, "We've got to find TK and then the others." She began walking towards the other end of the island, hoping to find TK somewhere in the middle, "C'mon, Skymomon, if we're lucky, TK and Patamon will already have breakfast ready when we find them."

"Yeah! Let's hope they've got more berries!" the little monkey digimon hung off of Lucy's back as she walked, looking over her shoulder.

The island piece wasn't all that large, and it was only a short time before Lucy spotted something off In the distance.

"Hey, look," she pointed out, "think it might be a village?"

"No harm in looking," Skymomon shrugged.

"Let's get going then!" They ran forward eager to find a trace of their friend, or just something to eat if nothing else.

Just on the outskirts of the village the ground went from healthy grass and rich brown dirt to some kind of cushiony material that gave way under Lucy's feet, making her bounce a little with every step.

"Whoa, what is this place? It's like the ground is made out of a pillow," the girl said, marveling at what she was walking on.

"And look at the buildings," Skymomon pointed, "They look like they're made of blocks. I don't see any doors either."

Looking around, Lucy nodded. The entire village looked like it was made out of little baby blocks, the cloth ones that her dad teased her about chewing on when she was a baby. The colors were bright and happy, the trees seemed like they were growing toys in the place of fruit, and a few of the giant blocks even had bright, smiling faces.

"Lucy!" a welcome voice shouted, laughing as it ran toward her. The girl turned to face him, a wide grin on her face as the boy all but tackled her in a hug of greeting.

"TK!" She yelled back, embracing him right back, "I'm so glad to see you. Is Patamon here? Or your brother?"

TK pulled back, "Patamon is, but I was hoping _you_ had seen Matt."

"Hey, is this a friend of yours?" A red and blue digimon came up behind TK, startling Lucy a little bit, but seeing as the little boy wasn't afraid she calmed down.

"Yeah, this is Lucy!" he said excitedly, "She's one of the other kids I told you about. Lucy, this is Elecmon. He's one of the good guys," as the cap wearing boy was saying this, Patamon hopped by followed by a veritable tide of teeny tiny little digimon. All of them, even Patamon, were laughing happily. Skymomon smiled widely, realizing what this place was.

"Lucy, this is Primary Village! It's where we digimon are born," the little monkey said, moving off her back and a little further into the village.

"That's right," said Elecmon, "And if you're really a friend of TK and Patamon then welcome."

"Like I told you though, Elecmon," TK said, "We really can't stay. We have to climb up that mountain over there."

Elecmon sighed, "That's gonna be a doozey of a challenge, it's really dangerous. You'll need rope, climbing gear, good boots, it's really very expensive. And then there are the pit falls, the caves and rock slides, the bugs-"

"And Devimon," TK interrupted, already knowing the worst thing they'd find on that mountain.

"Yeah, I was getting to that," Elecmon told him, "Devimon is... Well, he's an evil digimon."

"We know," Lucy said, staring off at the mountain. The baby digimon and the kids' partners had stopped playing, hearing the seriousness of the mood.

"I have to ask him about my brother, and everyone else too," TK said.

"But he wont just tell you what you want to know!" the electric digimon exclaimed, "You'll have to fight him!"

"I don't want to fight, ever!" TK yelled.

Lucy looked at him speculatively, wondering if something had happened that made him look at fighting like it was such a bad thing.

"We may not have a choice, TK, with as bad as Devimon is. We might have to fight just to get away from him," the girl tried to tell him.

"No! I don't want to fight!"

"There has to be some other way to find out," Patamon said, "We need to do it without fighting Devimon."

"Like what?" The leader of primary village asked, "Asking him pretty please?"

"No, it's nothing like that," TK began, "Do you remember when we were all laughing? You can't help it! And then the next thing you know you're looking at each other and laughin', and your cheeks hurt like you've been blowing up balloons all day!" the boy smiled as he walked forward, looking at the mountain in the distance, "Laughing's the best part of friendship!"

Lucy smiled at the little boy. His logic was simple, but not wrong. He didn't want to fight Devimon, but he wanted to find his friends. If he could do that without fighting the menace, who was she to say no?

"That's it!" Elecmon said, bounding away.

"Hey, wait!" Patamon called.

"You're right!" the blue and red digimon told TK, "It's all about laughing and being friends," a smile was on the digimon's face, "Maybe we can use the power of friendship to return the island to normal. I've got to go over to Gia Savannah to the Yokomon village and tell everyone quick."

"Bye," Patamon called, "Be careful."

"It's just a feeling, but I really believe in it," he looked up at the digimon and his human partner while Lucy stood off to the side, "Thanks, TK. And thank you, Patamon."

"Bye, bye," the tan digimon said. TK just smiled as the leader of primary village left to spread the word.

"Good luck!" Lucy called after him.

After he was out of sight, she, TK, and their digimon turned to regard the mountain where Devimon was waiting.

"Maybe he can help us, huh, Lucy?" the green wearing boy said.

"Definitely," the girl said without a doubt in her mind.

"And maybe when we get there, Matt will already be waiting for me," the boy's eyes shimmered in the sunlight as the sun began to set behind infinity mountain.

"Even if he's not," Skymomon said, "I know he will be looking for you."

"Yeah," TK smiled, thinking about his older brother. Matt may not always know how to show it, but there was no doubt he cared about TK. And the feeling was mutual. "I know Matt is out there," TK said, "I can almost see him riding Garurumon to find us. But... I got a bad feeling that a lot's gonna happen before he does."

"As long as I'm with you, TK, I wont let anyone hurt you," Patamon said, standing next to the eight year old.

"And we're here too," Lucy said, stepping up and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Skymomon was on his left side. "And when we're all together again, nothing will stand in our way."

The kids and digimon grinned at one another and looked back out at Infinity Mountain. They didn't know it, but Tai, Matt, Joe, Sora, Mimi, Izzy and all the digimon were already on their way back as well. Devimon had better watch out, because the tide was about to turn against him.

+-9

In his castle, Devimon was watching TK and Patamon through a looking glass.

"All the others have Digivolved already, I must destroy this last one before it is too late," He banished the image from his sight with a growl, "I cannot believe it has come to this. But as long at least one of those accursed children remains lost, I am pleased," he flared his wings, "Leomon!"

"Master," the hypnotized digimon said back, kneeling before the evil master of the black gears.

"I leave this to you."

"As you wish, my lord," he remained kneeling till he was dismissed.

"What shall I do, master?" Ogremon asked, kneeling right beside Leomon, "What task do you have for me?"

A smirk spread across Devimon's evil face. He was glad to see at least one of them was eager to serve his every whim.

"Nothing for the moment, my loyal servant. But soon a battle will rage, and you must be prepared!" Devimon's tone was filled with the confidence of a creature ready for the challenge to come.

"I understand, my lord. This time I will not fail you!" He beat a fist into an open palm, "The children and their pathetic digimon wont even know what hit them!"

"Good, now, begone to your tasks, both of you! Do not disappoint me!" Devimon faded out of sight and the two digimon stood up to move off to obey their new orders.

Ogremon glared over at the controlled Leomon and said in a low tone, "Don't think that just because you were ordered to go destroy the boy that makes you any better than me. You were just not as important to the battle to come. Your help would only be a hindrance."

Leomon replied in monotone, "I only follow the orders of Lord Devimon. Nothing more, nothing less. If you issue with that, take it up with him." He shouldered past the green monster and hopped down the mountain.

"Hey!" Ogremon yelled, grumbling to himself, "I liked you better when you were a self righteous fool. You had more fight in you." He too hopped down the side of the mountain moving off to train and become stronger before the children came back.

+-9

Back in Primary Village, Lucy, TK and their digimon were taking care of the babies. Skymomon and Lucy had fetched the giant net full of fish and had used some tools they found to cook them up to feed the babies already, and now they were just sitting about, playing with the baby digimon.

"Hmm, this one's shaking," TK said, holding up one of the little black babies with yellow eyes.

"What's up little guy, are you still hungry?" Lucy asked him, leaning forward to look at him.

He shook his head back and forth for a few seconds, then with a puff of smoke, he became a Koromon.

"Hi! My name's Koromon!" He said to the two of them.

"Congratulation's on Digivolving!" TK said with a wide smile.

"Congratulations, Koromon!" all the other babies said at once, their cute little voices sounding more adorable than ever all together.

Patamon wasn't smiling though, he'd been thinking of something. Now that Koromon had Digivolved, he'd have to leave Primary village to go live with others of his own kind. Would that happen when he Digivolved? Would he have to leave TK behind and never see him again?

"Remember, I'm your digimon, TK," the little guy said, "and one day I'll digivolve too," he warned the eight year old.

"Why?" TK asked, "Is that bad?"

"No, but..." he trailed off, not sure if he was saying this right.

"You want to Digivolve, is that what you're saying?" TK asked. Lucy looked between the two of them, wondering what the wing eared creature was getting at.

"I'm just saying it might happen, but I don't want it to," Patamon said after a moment of thought, "I want to stay like this forever, always by your side." Lucy couldn't help but smile at that. She wanted to remain with Skymomon too. It had been barely a business week, but she couldn't imagine her life without the berry eating monkey anymore.

"Yeah!" TK said, "That's so awesome. We can be best friends forever and ever!"

"Of course," Patamon said. TK grinned, lifting his hand in the air. With a grin of his own, his partner lifted his paw and the two exchanged a high five.

The babies began cheering again, knowing that the two of them were completely devoted to each other, and eager for their own friends like that some day. Lucy just stood in the back ground, unable to stop smiling. Being around TK was a breath of fresh air. He wasn't like the others. Sure, he wanted to get home, but he saw the whole thing like it was a real adventure.

And who knew, maybe it was. But what she knew for sure, was as long as they kept their heads up and kept walking forward, everything would be okay. Nothing would stop them.

And unseen by all, Leomon was staring down at the children and digimon in Primary village, wating for the perfect time to strike.

"I will destroy the children," He growled.

Chapter Nine: End.

Please Enjoy.


	10. Chapter 10 Legend of The Digidestined

Chapter Ten: The Legend of The Digidestined

Late in the day, with the sun setting, Lucy, TK, Skymomon and Patamon were doing their best to keep the babies entertained and fed. Currently TK was leading them around the outskirts of the village, just enjoying the peaceful time, while Lucy went to go find more food.

"You know what we should do?" TK said, turning to face the large group of baby digimon, "We should play a game!" He grinned widely, Patamon right there next to him.

Above them, unseen by TK but well within the view of the babies, was Leomon standing on the ledge overlooking the village, "I am pledged to obey your command, Devimon," the growl in his voice told of a suppressed anger. He drew his sword in the reverse grip and held it at the ready as he crouched down to jump.

The babies began to panic, doing their level best to warn TK and Patamon about the coming disaster. Barely being able to talk didn't help much.

"Okay," TK said quickly, trying to avoid a mass crying fit, "so you don't want to play any games." Patamon however noticed that the babies were not getting upset with _them_, but something that was behind them. Turning around, the little guy saw exactly what had the baby digimon so scared and couldn't help but agree.

"Leomon's come back!" the tan digimon exclaimed.

"Huh?" TK turned to look, and indeed, there stood the supposedly kind leader of the digimon on File Island. He leapt forward, landing a quarter of the way down the slope then began to run, his sword held before him.

Patamon didn't waste a second. He sucked in the necessary amount of air, inflating his body like a balloon, then released it, "_Boom Bubble!_" The ball of condensed air flew right and true. Just before it could hit Leomon's chest, the beast king casually blocked it with his blade.

"We can't fight here," TK said, "The babies might be hurt!"

"We'll have to run for it, TK," Patamon agreed.

"Right!" The two of them turned and fled, ducking into the dense jungle off to the side of Primary Village. Leomon followed, not even paying attention to the baby digimon that parted before him to avoid being stepped on.

"I hope Lucy comes back soon!" TK said, running as fast as his little legs would carry him. Leomon was not running to catch up, instead relying on his sense of smell to track the boy. Better to let him run out of energy trying futilely to escape than to waste his own trying to catch him.

It wasn't too long before the boy and his partner realized that running was only tiring them out, "Over here, Patamon," TK whispered, crouching down behind a large tree.

Leomon could be heard stalking through the brush somewhere behind them. Perhaps if they were really quiet, he'd just go by, leaving them alone.

"He's scary," TK whispered, frightened.

"Leomon was always a good digimon," Patamon said with frown on his face, "I just wish there was some way we could get rid of the black gear causing him to be so mean."

"That's easier said than done," the boy replied, "He's just way too big!"

"Hello," another voice rang through the forest, "You've got company."

"Oh, no," TK gasped. Standing at the entrance to Primary Village was Ogremon, he held his bone cudgel in one hand and one of the babies in another, between his thumb and fore finger. The little guy was trying for all he was worth to escape, but the green meanie had too good a hold on him. The pitiful noises he was making were causing TK's and Patamon's hearts to break.

"You're a nice little kid, aren't ya?" Ogremon said, "Get your hide out here so I can get a good look at ya!" he moved his cudgel to hold it at the head of the baby digimon he had captured, "If you don't, your little friend here is gonna squeak his last squeak."

"Patamon, we gotta save him!" TK exclaimed.

Patamon was just glaring at the green thug ineffectively, '_Poor Leomon. I know he wouldn't attack us if that stupid black gear didn't have him under an evil spell. He'd come over to our side, if only we could figure out a way to help him! I've gotta protect TK from Ogremon, but he's so big and I'm... not..._'

A roar cut through the tan digimon's thought process. Leomon had sneaked up from behind and swung his sword. The tree they were hiding behind was cut down with only one swipe of the razor sharp metal.

"I've been commanded by my master to take the Digidestined!" Leomon roared, lifting his blade high into the air to stab it down.

TK and Patamon could do little more than cry out in fear.

Leomon stared down at TK with unseeing eyes, an internal struggle going on inside his body. The true Leomon was fighting with everything he had, trying to fight past the black gear that had infected him. But it was too powerful, even for him. He could only make himself hesitate before landing the final blow and dooming his world.

"_Howling Blaster!_" A blue blast of fire came from the side, forcing Leomon to jump away or be roasted. Not but a few seconds behind the blast of blue flame, Matt came out of the jungle, riding on Garurumon's back.

"TK!" he yelled, happy to see his brother, if not in how he found him.

"You came just in time!" TK said, a smile spreading across his face, happy to see his older brother, especially now.

Garurumon stopped right before the little guy and his partner, Matt jumping down, "That was close!" He bent down to inspect his brother while Garurumon leapt off to continue the fight with the Lion digimon.

He fired another Howling Blaster, but Leomon cut through it with his sword. A few seconds later the two of them came sprinting out of the forest, right in view of Ogremon, starting a stand off between the two.

The green digimon had switched from holding the baby in his hand to keeping him pressed up against his side with his forearm. He grinned maliciously at the forest, hoping the little brat could see this.

"Now you've done it!" He called out, not noticing a pair of gloved hands removing the baby from his grasp, "This little guy's gonna get squished!" he looked to the little white jelly fish, but found only air, "Hey, where'd he go?"

"He's staying with us!" a voice off to the side said bravely.

Ogremon turned to see who he'd have to pummel now and came face to face with Tai, "Over my stinky arm pits he will," he raised his cudgel threateningly.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Tai said, keeping a protective hold on the baby, "Get him, Greymon!" A deep growling filled the air and Ogremon looked to his left. He wasn't sure how he missed it, but there, standing around like he'd been there all day, was the forty foot monster dinosaur that was Greymon.

"_Nova Blast!_" The brightly glowing fireball streaked towards the green thug.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with fire?" Ogremon demanded after he'd jumped out of the path of the attack, "Someone could get hurt! Namely, me!"

"That's the idea, bub. _Tornado Hammer!_" A green whirlwind slammed into the spot Ogremon had just rapidly evacuated, and Lucy and SkyYetimon raced over to stand with Tai and Greymon.

"Hey, Skymomon Digivolved!" Tai said, "That's great, Lucy!"

"Hey! I'm not done yet! You still have to take me on and the two of you haven't got a chance!" Ogremon yelled, lifting his weapon up and diving at the two digimon who were both bigger than him, "_Pummel Wha_-agh!" The green digimon was knocked away by Greymon's tail, and SkyYetimon chased after him with a punch aimed right for his head. He knocked her back with a swing of his cudgel in mid flight than twisted to land on his feet, "Hah! Is that the best you've got!"

Across the way, Leomon and Garurumon were taking turns diving at one another. Leomon had better reflexes, able to dodge out of the way of the wolf's attacks, but on the flip side, Garurumon's steel hard fur stopped the lion's blade from cutting him. It was still a stand off.

Well, it _was_. Until half a dozen black gears slammed into Leomon's back. He roared in pain and the pure energy from the gears embedding themselves into his body caused his blonde main to writhe wildly as if alive.

"The black gears!" Matt exclaimed, having no clue what that many would do to one digimon. Just one had been enough to turn Mojyamon nearly three times his size though, so this would definitely be worse.

"Raaagh!" Leomon roared into the sky as the energy from the gears raced through his body. Black and red electricity arched off of his form and suddenly he began to grow. His fur darkened and his mane turned black. His body grew and grew until he stood on even footing with Greymon. After his transformation was done, he calmly sheathed his blade, his back to Matt.

Garurumon stood at the ready, growling threateningly.

"No!" Matt yelled, "Turn back! Or he'll beat you to a pulp!" He didn't know how powerful that swarm of black gears had made Leomon, but one was certainly enough to have nearly defeated them several times.

Garurumon didn't listen, standing his ground.

The giant Leomon pulled his right fist back, then punched forward, "_Fist of the Beast King!_" The orange blast launched forward, slamming into Garurumon before he could even think of dodging. It knocked him through the air and into the side of the ridge nearby.

"Are you okay?" Matt called out to his wolf shaped friend. Garurumon could only groan in pain. Unable to move just quite yet.

Leomon turned away from his fallen foe to gaze upon the two that had fought against Ogremon. The green digimon was not doing as well as Leomon had. Greymon was slow, but much stronger than Ogremon, while SkyYetimon was not quite as strong, but certainly faster. She would fly around and kick him into position for one of Greymon's Nova Blasts, and if it weren't for his superb battle instincts he would long ago be well done Ogremon steak.

"_Fist of the Beast King!_" Another orange, lion head blast of energy hit SkyYetimon, knocking her into Greymon, and sending the both of them crashing into the block towers on the outskirts of Primary Village.

"SkyYetimon!" Lucy cried.

"Greymon, no! We need you!" Tai yelled, running forward to see what could be done.

"I told the guy not to play with fire," Ogremon said with a grin on his face.

'_I command you to bring me the Digidestined!_' Devimon's voice echoed in Leomon's head, and he turned to face TK and Patamon who, through accident of timing, was left on his own in this battle field, '_Starting with the smallest child!_'

"I am your humble servant and will obey you, Devimon," Leomon said aloud. He approached TK with a slow, determined walk, ready to take the boy out of the picture.

"TK! Watch out!" the older blonde yelled from beside Garurumon.

"What now, Matt?" the little boy yelled back, to scared to even run.

"Hurry, move away!" Matt yelled back.

Patamon took to the air, and decided to try his luck again, "_Boom Bubble!_" Another blast of condensed air shot at Leomon, two more following it. The giant sized digimon didn't even bother to block, just letting the attacks hit his chest, not even flinching in the slightest, feeling no pain whatsoever.

"Oh, no! It's not working!" Patamon bemoaned. Before he could move away, Leomon took the little digimon in hand and held him firmly.

"Patamon!" TK quailed. His partner struggled vainly to get out of the monster's grip, but it was hopeless.

Then, falling from the sky, it was Togemon to the rescue.

"Wanna fight? How 'bout a prickly, big zoo!" Togemon slammed into Leomon's back, knocking Patamon out of his grip and bouncing the big guy off the ground.

"Whoa! Togemon!" Matt exclaimed, realizing that Mimi must be nearby as well.

"Patamon!" TK yelled as he ran over to where the tan digimon landed, "You gotta take it easy, buddy," he told the wing eared little guy as he took him into his hands.

"I'm sorry," Patamon said pitifully.

"What for?" TK asked.

"I was just trying to protect you," Patamon explained, depression clearly seen in his eyes.

"And you were doin' great!" TK assured him, "Don't feel bad, little guy."

Descending from the sky, Kabuterimon had Izzy and Mimi riding on his shoulders.

"Tai!" the tech genius yelled, "You're never going to believe this!"

"What's happenin', Izzy?" The wild haired leader of the group called up to him.

The giant blue insectoid landed in front of Tai, Lucy and their digimon, bending down to let the two human children off his shoulders.

"We have a consummate solution to all our problems," He said, holding his Digivice up in his gloved hand.

"That's cool, but what are you talking about?" Tai asked.

"Check 'em out," Mimi said with a smile, holding hers up as well.

"They call them Digivices," Izzy informed him, "They have the ability to completely obliterate the black gears!"

Lucy pulled hers off her belt, giving it another once over, "They can really do that? I know they help out digimon Digivolve."

"Then let's give 'em a try!" Tai decided, pulling his off the side of his shorts, "We have no other choice right now! We have to take a chance and stop him!" The boy moved bravely off towards Leomon, not a doubt in his mind that, even if Leomon crushed him, he at least tried to do the right thing.

Leomon was, by this point, back on his feet and approaching the cap wearing eight year old. Matt was standing protectively in front of his little brother, not willing to move an inch.

"Don't worry," he told the little blonde boy, "I've got you covered TK."

"Ready for a real fight?"

"Huh?" Matt looked over to the side. Tai was approaching with a determined walk, just like the lion.

"What are you waiting for, bugger breath!" Tai insulted the corrupted leader of the digimon on File Island, "Come and get us, if you dare!"

"What up, dude? Have you totally flipped out?" Matt asked, a little concerned for the other boy's mental state. What neither Leomon or Matt could see was the Digivice clenched tightly in Tai's right fist.

"I must do as I am commanded," Leomon growled, turning to face Tai and making a grab for him, "Come here!"

"Now!" Tai shouted, thrusting his Digivice forward. Immediately it began emitting a super bright light, and Leomon began yelling in pain, bending backwards, away from the source of the light. The black gears began to shift out of his body, but the light from one Digivice was not enough.

Matt saw all this happening and looked to his own strange device, "You know, these things pack quite a punch," He then ran forward to stand next to Tai, holding his Digivice out as well, the combined power of the two of them working even harder to purify the black gears.

Even Ogremon had stopped upon hearing the pained cries of his partner in this battle. He watched as the light forced the black gears from Leomon's back, awed, "How'd they do that? Rotten kids!"

"Ogremon, over here!" Izzy yelled, to keep the green digimon from attacking while the boys' backs were turned.

"Huh?" he turned to look, only to find Kabuterimon standing just behind the computer expert.

"You've just begun to see our power!" The insectoid said as he lifted into the air, his wings buzzing, "_Electro Shocker!_" The ball of electricity zipped towards the green menace. Ogremon was only barely able to dodge, but with so many of the kids and their digimon now here, he decided that running away was the better part of not being beaten to a pulp. Especially with the way they were taking Leomon back onto the right side of the board.

"Grr! Just you wait!" He threatened as he ran, "Devimon will destroy all of you!"

The gears having been driven from him, Leomon began to shrink back to his normal size. His fur lightened up to it's normal, tan coloration, and his mane turned back to it's golden blonde color.

The pain over with, Leomon fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"It worked!" Izzy shouted happily, "We destroyed the black gears!"

"Alright! Party at Izzy's house!" Lucy said with a grin. Mimi stood nearby, a wide smile on her face at their victory.

"We're safe now," TK said, "Leomon's back to his normal self!"

"I apologize," Leomon groaned, slowly getting to his feet, "I could not control myself. I nearly destroyed you, and I could do nothing to stop it from happening." The growl in his voice was far less pronounced now that he was under his own power.

"Hey, no problem, big guy," Tai said with a smile, "Let's just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Still, I must repay you. I have always intended to stop the black gears, so I will fight beside you against Devimon, but first, you need to know who and what you all are." He moved towards a tree, gesturing for the kids to follow. They just shrugged to each other and followed. Their digimon returned to their smaller forms and followed along as well.

Leomon stopped and sat down with his legs crossed under the tree, a solemn look on his face as he thought about his deeds while under the control of the black gears. The children sat around him, forming a half circle, each of their digimon sitting right beside them.

"According to ancient legend," Leomon began, "our world will be taken over by a strange, dark force that will change good digimon into bad ones. Our ancestors have predicted that a group of children, called the Digidestined, will appear from another world. When they arrive, they will come to possess super powers that will eventually save our world from destruction," the kids began making the correlations between the legend and themselves, "I believe their prediction has come true. File Island has been seized by an evil power. We're in danger of destruction and now, you've appeared."

"Whoa, that amazing!" Tai said, "But tell me, how can you be sure we're the kids you're talking about?" The others waited eagerly for this answer.

"Yeah, do you have some proof that we're the same ones?" Matt asked next.

"It has been foretold that the Digidestined have the ability to make digimon Digivolve," Leomon explained, "You've done that, on numerous occasions, and it's all the proof I need."

Izzy pondered over the information and placed a hand on his chin as he spoke, "I, for one, hope that's true. My theory is that we'll be released after we save the island," the other children were listening avidly to the ten year old now, "Once our purpose is served, there is no other reason for us to remain."

Lucy's heart clenched in her chest. She hoped that part wasn't true. She didn't want to leave the digital world yet. She still had questions that needed answered. Like why did she think of this place as home? Why was she the only one to think so?

"And I'll finally be able to change these clothes!" Mimi said excited at the prospect of going home.

"That's right!" Izzy said, looking to the girl, "If Leomon's information is correct, we'll be heading straight for home."

"I can't wait!"

Matt decided to bring them back to reality before they got into what they'd missed back home again, "How can we make it happen? We're not even sure who's causing it. What if it's a force that's too big for us to handle?" He turned to look at Infinity Mountain in the distance.

"You see, Devimon is the main cause of all this evil," Leomon told them, looking at the mountain himself and prompting the others to do the same, "To save the island, you're going to have to defeat him."

"Something tells me this wont be a simple thing to do," Lucy said.

"Let's go for it!" Tai said, "It may be tough, but if we work together we can do it!"

The group did not look quite as convinced as Tai at the prospect of this fight, "Well..." Lucy began.

"Why not?" Tai said, standing up, "Unless we defeat him, it will never be over!"

Izzy stood up next to him, "Fine with me! Besides, It's impossible for us to lose with the Digivices!"

Mimi stood up next, "First thing on my list, when I get home, is to do some killer shopping!" She had stars in her eyes and her hands clasped before her.

"To do that, we actually have to get you home first," Palmon said from beside her partner.

"If we all work together, we're sure to win, just like Tai said!" Tentomon decided.

"Come on, Lucy," Skymomon said, standing up as well, and urging the girl to do the same, "Maybe by beating Devimon you'll find out why you feel like you belong here."

"I can think of worse things to do with my time than saving an island full of innocent digimon," the girl said, standing up as well, "Let's do this!"

"I'm ready anytime you are, buddy," Agumon told Tai. The boy smiled at his digimon, clenching his fist with his determination to end the threat that was digimon.

"How about it, Matt?" Gabumon asked, "Are we up to the challenge, my friend?"

Matt looked at the ground, "It's gonna be tough," he warned, "When you get down to it, we've got no other choice." TK was watching his brother for his cues on how to handle this. He'd never done anything this important in his life. He didn't want to mess up.

Leomon looked at the group of six and nodded to himself, "Alright, troops! Let's get to it!"

"Far out!" Tai said, "It's a done deal!" The kids cheered.

"I have a boat," Leomon said, "It is how I arrived on this piece of the island. We can use it to get back to the mountain." He pointed off in the distance to where he kept the boat.

+-9

A short time later, the kids and digimon had gathered into the boat, Leomon rowing the boat at the back.

"Devimon is powerful," he warned them, "he's brought nothing but trouble to File Island, and we must be careful."

The kids remained quiet as they approached the island, the solemn air of the fight to come too powerful for light hearted banter. Landing at the base of the mountain, the mood didn't change any.

"He will be waiting for us at the top of the mountain," Leomon said as they started up the path, "Whatever you do, do not underestimate him. He will use every advantage at his disposal to destroy us."

Lucy, who was walking along with Skymomon in her arms, hugged the little blue monkey closer to herself, "We can do this. We just have to stay on our toes."

+-9

Devimon grinned evilly as he looked into the viewing window before him, "That traitorous fool, Leomon, is leading them directly into my trap. Perfect!" his fangs glinted in the low light of his castle, "He's been very valuable to me."

Ogremon stood before the evil, horned digimon, "I guess so," he shrugged, "but I'm loyal and better looking."

"Listen to me!" Devimon snapped, "You will pay them one final visit. Ready!" Ogremon's eyes widened fearfully as the evil digimon used his freakishly long arm to grab him by the throat. He was lifted easily into the air and Devimon focused his dark powers, turning the green digimon into a swarm of more black gears.

The gears swirled around in the air about Devimon, the evil digimon laughing maliciously, "Here this, Digidestined! My power is infinite! Your hopes and dreams are useless! I am the supreme ruler of this island!" The gears began to move toward him, "If you dare to defy me, I will unleash the powers of the universe and conquer you!" More gears flew towards the mountain from around the pieces of the island, "You can't escape!"

+-9

Out at sea, Sora and Joe were riding their digimon back to Infinity Mountain. Black gears zoomed by over head, dozens of them.

"Oh no," Sora pointed out, "What's that?" She was sitting on Birdramon's talon, one of the only parts o the large digimon that wasn't ablaze.

"Big trouble is brewing," the firebird intoned, "We better be ready for a fight."

"Black gears!" Joe cried from Ikkakumon's back.

"This is going to be the big one, Joe, it's time to show your colors," the sea mammal said.

"Are you feeling okay down there, Joe?" Sora asked the boy.

"Just a little seasick," he called back, his face pale from the thought of the fight to come... and the seasickness.

They didn't halt their travel though, Ikkakumon able to keep up with Birdramon's flight speed in the water.

+-9

The gears all congregated on Devimon's castle. After a few seconds the mountain began to shake wildly. Lucy couldn't bite back her scream of fear, but was able to stay upright. She knew this was caused by Devimon. But to her subconscious it still felt like an earthquake, and that was enough to do some shaking of her own.

Out of the top of the mountain, Devimon emerged. After absorbing the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of gears he had become a monstrosity nearly as big as the mountain itself. He lifted himself from the remains of his lair and flared his wings out with flourish.

"What in the world is that?" Mimi cried out, fear obvious in her voice.

"It must be Devimon," Tai said.

"I didn't expect him to be such a big guy," Palmon said, staring in horrified awe at the huge digimon.

"Bad guys always seem to think bigger is better," Izzy complained.

"Fraid not," Leomon growled, drawing his sword, "The power that Devimon possesses is immense. You must be wary!"

The giant evil digimon crouched down on the top of the mountain then jumped upwards, beating his tattered wings to keep himself afloat. He landed at the base of Infinity Mountain with a great boom, causing the earth to shift some more. Lucy yelped then grew angry.

"Cut that out, you big bully!" She waved her fist at him.

"A-agumon," Tai stuttered, "You better Digivolve!"

"Right!" the little yellow dinosaur said.

Before he could even make the attempt, they were knocked back by a red and black beam of energy. It spread out to smash all the children into the rock face. Leomon tried to leap forward with attack, but Devimon held up his other huge hand and exerted more energy to knock the lion man back as well.

"You are fools!" he hissed at them, "Do not expect me to play silly games with you! I'm far too wise for that!" It would appear that the fight was over before it even began.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Or not! Several harpoons shot through the air, aimed for Devimon's face.

"Gah!" the big creature cried out, flinching away from the attack, even if it was more from surprise than pain.

"That's a bull's eye, Ikkakumon!" Joe said, grinning at the power of his partner.

In the sky, Birdramon attacked next, "_Meteor Wing!_" A dozen streaks of purifying fire slammed into Devimon, causing him actual pain, but very little damage over all.

"Quick everybody!" Sora shouted, running up the path to her friends, "There's no time to waste, we've got to strike right away!"

"Digivolve," Tai ordered Agumon.

"You've got it!" the dino then turned to the other digimon, "Ready, gang?" The rest of the digimon nodded. The Digivices, all but TK's, activated, that familiar high pitched keening filling the air as the digimon all began to glow with the light of Digivolution.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

"Yeah! Go, Greymon!" Tai cheered.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

"Let's turn this guy into pudding!" Matt ordered.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!"

"My biology teacher would love this," Izzy commented.

"Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!"

Mimi was next, "I do like the way our colors match."

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

"Show this jerk who's boss!" Lucy shouted.

Greymon attacked first, gathering up the fire for his attack, "_Nova Blast!_" The fireball flew through the air with the singular target of Devimon. He ducked it, but Garurumon jumped up to bat next.

"_Howling Blaster!_" the wolf digimon jumped forward as he breathed the blue fire. Devimon blocked the attack with his arm, but that just gave Garurumon something to latch onto with his teeth.

"I think he's got him!" Tai said, surprised. Devimon growled back at the little wolf. At least, as he was, the wold was little, he could hold pitiful beast in the palm of his hand. He whipped his arm forward, sending the wolf flying into Greymon and knocking them both to the ground.

"Greymon!" Tai cried out.

"Oh no!" Matt yelled.

"Your attacks are pitiful! I'm afraid you'll have to try harder than that!" Devimon gloated.

Kabuterimon stepped up next, gathering the energy for his attack, SkyYetimon right behind him.

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

And Togemon joined in from the ground, "So you want a Needle Spray, do ya? Hah!" Thousands and thousands of tiny needles shot out at the monster.

But none of the attacks had any effect. The Electro Shocker fizzled out, Tornado hammer didn't even ruffle his wings, and the needles bounced harmlessly off of Devimon's chest and arms.

"Give up you fools! It's useless!" Devimon slammed his hand towards Togemon, knocking her off the ledge, then swiped both SkyYetimon and Kabuterimon out of the air.

"Oh, poor Togemon!" Mimi gasped.

"Kabuterimon!" Izzy yelled in distress.

"Please be okay, SkyYetimon," Lucy breathed.

Leomon leaped forward from beside the children, a roar on his lips and his sword at the ready, "You're mine now!" he was aiming for Devimon's blind spot, at his back.

But it was not to be. Ogremon emerged from Devimon's back, a grin on his ugly face.

"You!" Leomon growled, his eyes narrowing.

"You've got no chance against the likes of us, kitty cat!" Ogremon said as he knocked Leomon away with another red and black blast. He was sent deep into the forest, presumable knocked out of the fight. Ogremon laughed.

Above, Devimon had Birdramon in hand, ignoring the flames she seemed to be made of, "You're not worth my time," he growled.

"Birdramon!" Sora cried desperately.

"Get out of my sight!" he roared, throwing the bird into Greymon who was just standing back up. The two of them were sent tumbling down the side of the building again, "You're next!" Devimon began reaching for Ikkakumon, Joe quivering in fear.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" the large white digimon blasted his exploding horns at Devimon's hand, but they just bounced off uselessly. The evil digimon grabbed him and lifted him into the air.

"Ikkakumon, no!" Joe shouted.

"_Electro Sho-agh!_" Kabuterimon came up behind the super giant menace to File Island, but he whipped around and hit him with Ikkakumon, sending them both to the ground.

"_Tornado Hammer!_" SkyYetimon smashed her attack into the monster's face. Devimon hardly even squinted into the winds of it before he clutched the smaller digimon and slammed her into the ground.

"Oh boy," TK gulped, "There's nobody left! What do we do, Patamon?"

Devimon heard the plea and turned to the youngest of the group, "Now I shall deal with you! Then I'll have nothing to fear!" He reached his right hand out for the boy, "They say the smallest will destroy me, but I'm not going to let that happen! Don't move, make it easy on both of us." Time seemed to slow down as he reached forward.

Matt ran forward, Garurumon passing him by. They would protect TK no matter what. Garurumon leapt through the air, latching his jaws on Devimon's arm again.

"TK, run!" the older blonde ordered.

Devimon growled in annoyance at the useless attack from the wolf digimon. Before he could toss him away the other digimon moved in as well. Greymon latched onto his left leg, sinking his teeth into his calf muscle. Birdramon went for his face, Kabuterimon sank his claws and teeth into his shoulder. SkyYetimon jumped on the back of his head, holding onto his horns and wrapping her tail around his throat. Togemon jumped up onto his right thigh, trying to stick him with her needles while Ikkakumon clutched his left foot.

"You seem to forget!" Devimon shouted, "I am Devimon! Supreme master of this island! I have power over all digimon, no one can conquer me!" more of that black and red energy shot out of his whole body in a dome, shunting the entire team off of his body with great force. The kids were even slammed into the rock face with the blast, putting them down as well.

"Whoa," Greymon breathed, "That guy really knows how to take it out of ya."

"I can't move," Togemon said with a wheeze, "Even my needles feel numb."

"Now is probably not a good time to take a nap," Kabuterimon reasoned, but made no move to get back up. Ikkakumon, right beside the bug digimon, just groaned in pain.

"This is bad," Tai said, struggling to move at all.

"Matt!" TK cried in fear as the situation got even worse. With the digimon taken care of, all except for Patamon, he was free to move on the children, specifically the youngest of the group.

"You will be mine," Devimon said as he reached for the boy again.

"Hey," Matt wheezed, "Get ready to run!"

TK was barely able to lift his head, but it was enough to see the hand reaching for him and he and Patamon screamed in fear. Patamon, however, was able to force himself into action. Unfortunately, the Boom Bubble he hit Devimon with was less that useless.

'_What do I do? TK's in danger, I've got __to protect him!_' Tears were beginning to gather in Patamon's eyes, '_I don't understand it! It isn't working! Oh, why can't I Digivolve!_'

Devimon's hand grew ever closer with each second till he was nearly able to grab the young boy.

"Patamon, help!" he cried, holding up his arms to try to futilely block out the coming destruction.

"Don't worry, TK!" The brave little digimon yelled, jumping in the way of the grasping hand.

Feeling something in his palm, Devimon clenched his hand into a fist and began to squeeze.

"Hang on, pal!" Matt said, struggling to push himself up to even his knees.

Suddenly, a familiar high pitched keening came from TK's Digivice, and a light shined out from Devimon's hand.

"What!?" He demanded, the light growing too bright for him to tolerate. It burned his palm and he had to let it go, "Gah!"

"What's that?" Mimi asked, all of the children looking at the orb of light with awe.

"It's, uh..." Izzy was at a loss of words as to how to explain this.

"It's Patamon," Sora told them, "He must be about to Digivolve!"

The orb of light rose ever higher into the air, growing brighter still.

"Patamon, Digivolve to Angemon!" Angemon was the size of a normal human with a few differences that let people know he wasn't normal. For one, he had six, beautiful white feathered wings coming from his back. He wore a white body suit that covered him head to toe, white boots with little golden wings painted on them and a metal helm the covered his head. He had long blonde hair, a blue cloth that spiraled around his left arm and his right leg, another blue cloth that hung out of the front of his belt that went all the way down to his feet, a golden piece of armor on his left shoulder and four metal protrusions across his torso. In his right hand he held a long golden staff.

"Hey," Joe called, standing next to Ikkakumon, "Patamon finally digivolved!"

"That's super cool!" Sora said, looking up at the angel.

"Not bad," Matt commented, "That little guy really had it in him."

"You can say that again," Lucy replied.

"Nice hair, good color," Mimi breathed while Tai and Izzy just sat there slack jawed.

"I wanna take him home with me," TK said.

"What's this?" Devimon growled, "Another foolish attempt?"

"The forces of good are more powerful," Angemon said to the giant evil digimon, "Even you can't stop us," he held his staff above him, "I'll destroy you and bring peace to the Island." Light suddenly shot out of all the Digivices, the keening they made filling the air as it all streaked through the air and was absorbed into Angemon's weapon.

"That light is so bright!" Devimon grunted, "What are you doing to me!?"

One by one, the digimon reverted to their smaller forms. Angemon was absorbing all the energy it took to keep them in their other forms to make an attack against the giant Devimon.

"Stop it!" Devimon had brought an arm across his face to shield his eyes from the light, "I'm not going to allow you to take my power away, you'll have to fight me!"

Angemon looked down on the evil digimon as the energy gathered in his staff, "I'm afraid I have no other choice," he twirled his staff around above his head till he held it like a sword ready to strike, "If I can save others, my fate is unimportant!"

TK looked up at Angemon, not liking the sound of that, "Angemon!"

"Your powers of gotten far out of control and must be extinguished!" the angel said forcefully, swinging his staff forward, "I am ready to fight for peace!"

Ogremon shot out of Devimon's chest, laughing maniacally. The golden staff began to glow with the great amount of energy that Angemon was channeling and the green digimon was blasted back, through Devimon's chest with such force as to leave a hole, and eventually out into the jungle.

"Now you've done it!" the giant digimon growled.

The staff began to shrink, but the energy surrounding it did not fade, instead it shrank back until it covered Angemon's right hand. He pulled his fist back, ready to strike.

"Be careful!" TK yelled, not wanting to lose his friend just as he'd finally digivolved.

"I'll get him," Angemon said turning to look at TK, "Relax."

"Come here, pretty boy!" Devimon roared, bringing up his hands to enclose the angel in them.

"I'll stop you!" Angemon shouted, "Haya!" He punched forward and a humongous beam of orange and white light tore through Devimon effortlessly. The beam turned into a dome, and the dome expanded rapidly until it covered everything. It purified the entire island until not a single black gear was causing any digimon to act against their will.

In a white expanse in the air, Devimon had shrank back to his normal size. He was dissolving into purple particles from his feet up. As he stared across at Angemon who was also dissolving, but into white motes of light instead, he spoke, "You have used up all your power. That wasn't very smart, Angemon. Now you are no use to anyone!" He grinned maliciously, "You can't get away from the dark forces. Evil is everywhere. So don't savor your victory. There are other digimon just as powerful as I am. Some are even stronger. I wonder what you'll do when you run into them. You haven't won at all. What a waste of time!" He began to laugh maniacally as he finally finished dissolving, the purple motes flying up into the sky.

Angemon just watched him the entire time, not truly caring what the evil digimon said. No matter what, he had protected the children, and he would do so again in the future.

"Angemon!"

The angel turned to look, and found TK with tears in his eyes.

"TK, I'll come back again," he told the boy with a small smile on his face, "If you want me to." The angel finished disappearing.

"Angemon!" TK cried, his tears falling freely from his eyes as he fell to the ground. He barely even noticed as seven feathers from the digimon's wings landed in a neat little pile on the ground. He certainly noticed when they began to glow though, looking up from the ground, wondering what was going on. The glow faded and left behind was a white digi-egg with orange stripes.

"What do you know, it's a digi-egg," Tentomon said after all of the children had gathered around TK and the egg.

"Do you think it could be Angemon?" TK asked, his voice full of hope.

"I know it is," Gabumon said with a firm nod, "He's just resting for a while to regain his strength."

"But don't worry," Palmon said next, "You'll see him again when he Digivolves."

"I will make sure to take really good care of him," TK said as he gathered the large egg into his arms, "You saved my life Angemon."

"Huh?" Sora intoned, looking out to sea, "Look! The island is coming back together again!"

"Exactly!" Izzy exclaimed, "Devimon was defeated. When evil is eliminated, the island returns to its natural state.

+-9

Out in the forest, Ogremon had pulled himself to his feet. He looked around and grinned evilly.

"With Devimon out of the way, I can take over now!" He laughed maliciously as he turned to make his way back to the kids and destroy them. He wasn't expecting to find Leomon in his path.

"Hello," the lion greeted, "You forgetting about me?"

Not feeling up to the battle, Ogremon turned on his heel and ran away, "Leomon! Get me out of here! Why can't the bad guys ever win?" He actually whined out that last part.

+-9

Back up on the slope the children were noticing that they were decidedly _not_ being sent home. Lucy was the only one to breathe a sigh of relief at that.

Matt figured it out pretty quickly, "What's up with those evil digimon across the sea?"

"Yeah," Joe nodded, "I thought we were going home."

"I don't want to have to fight again," Mimi said, then gasped as she looked at her hands, "I think I broke a nail!"

"Well, according to Leomon's legend, we gotta do it," Tai told them, "Remember, he said we're the Digidestined!"

"Yeah," Lucy said, "And if you think about it, the legend said we were supposed to save their world. This is just one little island, and if this world is anywhere as big as ours, then this lonely little island is almost inconsequential to the greater whole."

"I suppose that is logical," Izzy gave up.

Before any more could be said, a few stones began to move behind Tai, and a round device on the ground began to emit light.

"Something's happening," Joe pointed out.

In a flash of rainbow light an old man appeared. He was squat from old age, had white hair on his mostly bald head that he kept in a ponytail and a white mustache. He wore black clothing with red borders and held his arms behind his back.

"Hello!" he greeted in a grizzled voice, "I've heard of you kids. I must say, I'm pleased with what you've done."

"Excuse me, sire, tell us," Tai said, fighting past his slack jaw, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Chapter Ten: End.

Please Enjoy.


	11. Chapter 11 Departure for a new Continent

Chapter Eleven: Departure For A New Continent

When the man appeared in the rainbow from the device on the ground, Lucy expected another pulse of warmth from her chest. She expected to feel a connection in some way to the first human face she'd seen outside of the other seven children.

What she got was nothing. Not even a spider sense tingle. He was standing before them, kinda, and all she thought was how odd it was that this guy was in a hologram. The warmth she felt from Skymomon, her Digivice and the fact that she belonged here were all still there, but not a thing from the old man.

"So," the old man said, "you must be strong to have defeated Devimon. He was no simple Numemon, after all."

"Who are you?" Tai asked, wonder in his tone. It had been six days since he'd seen another human, not counting their group. Maybe this guy could help them get home.

Matt was more apprehensive. No way that this guy just appears out of thin air to congratulate them after Devimon was defeated, something had to be up, "Are you a friend of Devimon?"

"Fear not," he said, "for I am a friend to all, yet I am a friend to none."

"How very zen of you," Lucy said. She was beginning to get one of those vibes like they were walking into a martial arts movie.

"I can't believe it," Sora said, hands on her hips again, "There are other humans besides us in the world."

The old man turned to look at her, "I am human, and yet I am not human."

"This is confusing," Mimi said, staring blankly at the man before them, "Do you come with subtitles?"

The man harrumphed at Mimi before turning back look at the group at large again, "My name is Gennai. I couldn't send you this transmission during your battle with Devimon, but now the lines are clear, and only ten cents a minute!"

"Just where are you?" Izzy asked, "And why would you need to call here?"

"I am speaking to you from a far away from File Island. Across the ocean, on the continent of Server," Gennai told the tech genius, "And I called to speak to you, the Digidestined."

"Talk about a long distance call," Sora quipped, "How long have you been here?"

"Since before the beginning, and until after the end," he said, slipping back into cryptic, paradoxical sayings.

"Are you the one who got us stuck here in the Digital World?" Mimi asked.

"It was not I," he said after a moment.

"Then who was it?" the pink loving girl asked.

Gennai stared long and hard at the group, appearing to weigh the consequences of telling them who it was that brought them from their own world and into this one.

He made a shrug of his old shoulders and a three syllable vocalization that could be deciphered as 'I don't know.' The kids sighed in disappointment. There went the hope that this guy knew who they needed to defeat to get home.

"But Mister Gennai," TK began, "Do you know what we need to do so we can all get back home again?" the littlest member of the group kept a firm hold of the digiegg left over from his partner's defeat of Devimon. He'd never set it down, not until it hatched.

"No, I don't," the old man sighed. Why couldn't these kids ask the simple questions? Like 'where is the grocery store?' or 'would you tell us a bed time story?' or, most important of all, 'where's the nearest, evil Digi-butt I need to kick?'

His response brought more despondent sighs from the children.

"Boy, you're a regular fountain of information, aren't you?" Tai said with his arms crossed and one eye closed for some reason.

Gennai looked up at the young man and said sincerely, "I'm sorry I can't help you. But you can be of help to me."

This brought about a general sound of questioning and a few 'how's from the group. They were on an island in the middle of the ocean, nowhere near his home, as he himself said, and more over, they were beat up and tired from the fight with Devimon. One of their own had even been reduced to a digiegg. Joe hoped that whatever Gennai needed, it was only for the kids to eat and rest for the next few days.

"Please come to Server and defeat our enemies," Gennai pleaded, "As the Digidestined, I have faith in all of you." His tone sounded both truthful and hopeful. Lucy may not have felt any kind of connection to the old man, but the least she could do was go check out his problem with the others to see if they could help.

"That's crazy if we don't know your exact location," Izzy told the man.

"Good point. I forgot you're from out of town. Let me create a map for you on your computer," the man nodded as he looked at the computer expert.

"Huh?" Izzy looked over his shoulder at his computer back, almost expecting the thing to randomly turn on. He'd already discovered one of the major secrets of this world, with data coalescing into matter. His lap top turning on and downloading a map wouldn't be too surprising.

"What if your enemies are humongazoid?" Joe asked in some righteous fear, "Do you think we can beat anything tougher than Devimon?"

"Not presently," Gennai said then continued quickly, "but if your digimon can Digivolve once more, you might be able to do it."

"So we can Digivolve even more?" Agumon asked, wonder in his tone.

"Yes, indeed. But you'll need something special to do it," his image faded away to be replaced by a picture of a small rectangular object next to a golden pendant with a rectangular glass front, "If you have the Tags and Crests your digimon will be able to Digivolve even further."

The children all leaned close to look at the pair of items, hoping to divine some kind of secret about making their digimon Digivolve into even stronger heroes.

"Please tell us where we can find these Tags and Crests," Gabumon asked of the old man.

"The Crests are scattered about," Gennai said helpfully, "You can locate them all throughout the continent of Server," in the picture of the Tag and Crest, the Crest inserted into the Tag, letting the children know what they needed to do before that image faded away and Gennai came back, "And the Tags were sealed away somewhere by Devimon."

Before more could be said the image began to waver and flicker, losing coherency. Gennai's last words were a jumble of half spoken sentences, "Oh no!... Devimon... You must...come... Aaah! Come...quickly. I'll be waiting... Server!" and the connection cut out. The children began to panic. What had happened? Was the old man okay? Was something coming for them now as well?

"He's gone!" Tai exclaimed needlessly.

"What was that?" Mimi asked, staring at the device that had allowed the to speak with Gennai.

Not having an answer, most of the children continued to sit around the holographic device for a few minutes, hoping he'd come back on.

"Do you think he's okay?" Lucy asked, crouching down next to it, looking for buttons.

"Gennai's transmission _did_ end rather abruptly," Tentomon noted. Beside the bug digimon, Izzy had sat himself down and had opened his lap top.

The boy immediately noticed the promised map to Server, "Well, at least he was able to send the map through before he got cut off."

"I hope he's alright," Sora said, agreeing with Lucy's sentiment, "What's our next move going to be?"

Tai stood tall and said, "I have a fool proof plan," the other children looked to him, expecting to hear something profound or profoundly foolish. Matt already looked ready to argue against it if he thought the idea was completely stupid. "First we'll eat something, and after that I'm open to suggestions," the boy spoke happily, a smile on his face.

At first silence, then giggles from one of the girls. The giggles spread to the other girls and all the digimon, then turned to chuckles. Chuckles spread to the rest of the kids and turned into outright laughter with Matt even joining in, giving Tai a thumbs up.

"I, hee hee, I like that plan," Lucy told the older boy, holding her stomach with the mirth of the situation.

"Me too," Mimi said, reigning in her laughter but letting the good mood shine on, "I could go for some gourmet. Maybe steak with fine garnish and a side of lobster."

"I'll take some pizza!" TK said with his usual enthusiasm, only slightly dampened by Angemon's sacrifice.

"I'm with TK," Matt said.

"Great!" Tai all but shouted, "Then let's get cookin'!"

As usual, the team split up the duties around the camp site, Some were sent to gather firewood, others to gather edibles, and the digimon helped on both counts. They quickly found a waterfall that dropped off from Infinity Mountain with a beautiful pool filled with tasty fish. Gomamon, Joe, Izzy and Tentomon fished. Lucy, Skymomon, Sora and Biyomon gathered the fire wood. Tai and Agumon tended the fire, getting it up and roaring, while the rest of them searched the forest for fruit and non poisonous mushrooms.

Before long they had a feast resembling the one they'd had on the lakeside with the trolley car.

"You never really appreciate the simple recipes 'til you've tried them," Lucy said with a grin as she held up a stick with a fish on it, "I think this is my favorite of the meals we've eaten." it was one of the last ones and she was nearly full anyways.

"Yeah!" Agumon said, looking up at the night darkened sky, "That was absolutely delicious!"

"I was so hungry," Biyomon said with an awed giggle.

"Now that my stomach is full, I'm ready for lunch," Tentomon quipped.

Off to the side, sitting near the water, TK held the digiegg in his lap, gently rubbing the shell. He wondered when he would have his friend back, if he'd be the same as before or completely different.

Matt came over to check on his brother, "TK? What's up?"

"Oh, I was just wishing my digiegg would hurry up and hatch already so it could grow up!" he said, still gently rubbing the egg.

"Don't sweat it, little bro," Matt said, "When your digimon hatches it will be the coolest one yet!" TK smiled up at his big brother then stood up, the two of them facing the rest of the group.

"Egg-xactly!" The little boy grinned at his own pun.

The night air was warm so no one needed to sit near the fire for warmth and the moonlight was bright enough to keep them out of the pitch black. The group was relaxing after that much needed celebratory meal, but now it was time to decide on their future.

"Okay, everyone," Tai said to kick things off, "Now that we've stuffed our faces, what are we gonna do next?" he was crouched like a frog next to Sora who was sitting with her legs out in front of her, one over the other.

"You know what's next," she told him, "We have to go to Server to save Gennai from his enemies."

"Well, according to my calculations of longitude and latitude, I'd say server is quite some distance from here," Izzy explained.

Sitting next to him, Lucy leaned to the side to look at his screen, "That looks familiar," she pointed to a boot shaped peninsula coming off the main continent.

"Yes, it does rather resemble the Italy of our world," Izzy said, typing on his lap top to bring everything into a better view. The map looked like it was a huge continent File Island had to have the Zoom feature used on it to even be seen in comparison to it. No way were they walking across that in under a week.

"I can't even swim across the bath tub, let alone a whole ocean," Mimi said, resting her chin in her hands, "I'll never make it."

Joe agreed with her, "Why do we have to go, anyway?" he asked, "What I mean is, Devimon is gone from the island," he turned to the rest of the group, "The black gears have disappeared too. We've been once around the island, so we pretty much know where everything is," he held his hands out to the side, "We wouldn't have to worry about food or water."

"What are you saying?" Sora asked.

"Why should we believe what this weirdo Gennai guy says?" Joe explained, "What I mean is, how do we even know that this place, Serve, even really exists?" These were all good questions.

"What are you thinking?" Tai demanded, standing up, "If we hang around here, guys, we'll never get back home!" Lucy suddenly had a point in favor of Joe's idea, but she still felt like she should help.

"I agree with Tai," she said, "I wanna stay," she held a hand on her chest, "but that doesn't mean I'm gonna ignore this call for help."

Sora sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and holding herself under her knees, "I don't know, guys. Devimon almost got us. Maybe we shouldn't go. At least we know what we're up against over here."

Izzy shut off his lap top and closed it, "And even if we wanted to go, what mode of transportation could we utilize?"

"We don't even know what the fashions are like on Server," Mimi said, making her argument.

"Mm-hm," Joe intoned, agreeing more with Izzy than Mimi, just happy to have another vote for his side.

Standing next to TK with his hands in his pockets, Matt considered the pros and cons, "Maybe we should stay here a while longer and think this through," he suggested.

Tai was getting a little overwhelmed by this mass rejection of his idea. It... hadn't happened before. Sure, Matt and Joe had disagreed with him before, but he'd never had to argue against nearly the whole group.

"What's with you!?" He said loudly, "That guy needs our help and we're just gonna sit here and let some evil digimon rule over an entire continent of innocent ones?" He looked to the group one by one. Izzy, Mimi, Joe and Sora couldn't meet his eyes. Lucy was already on his side. When he turned to look at TK he found a surprise waiting for him and the rest of the group.

The little boy in the green baseball cap was still clutching the egg of his digimon, but had a determined look on his face, "Let's go!"

As one, the group turned to look at the littlest member. Did he really just say that? Even after losing Angemon to the fight with Devimon?

"TK?" Matt questioned.

"We don't know what kind of danger will be waiting for us, but let's see!" he looked down to the large egg in his grip, "I'm sure Angemon would say the same thing if he were still around," He turned his gaze back to the older kids, "So I'm going!"

"We'll go too!" Agumon announced, speaking for himself and Tai, "If we have the Tags and Crests, we'll be able to Digivolve again, right?" he smiled up at his partner who was proud to have the little yellow dinosaur at his back, "Once we transform into our new shapes, we'll be able to protect you for sure!"

"You da 'Mon!" Tai said with a grin.

"We can do it!" Skymomon said, hanging off of Lucy's shoulder, "We can do anything as long as we stick together, Lucy!"

"You bet!" she returned.

"Sora," Biyomon said, holding the girls hands, "So what do you say?"

"Our chances for success are extremely high," Tentomon insisted to Izzy.

"Come on, Mimi," Palmon said with a grin, "I'll bet you we'll be the prettiest flowers on all of Server!"

"Don't worry about me," Gomamon said to Joe, "I'll swim to Server."

"Come on, let's do it," Gabumon tried to convince his partner.

Matt looked up from the fur coated digimon and at the others, "Let's go."

Sora stood up next, a smile on her face, her confidence renewed, "Count me in!"

"Kay," Joe said, for once not dragging out the argument, "I'll go. I'm convinced."

"Well, I'm not staying here by myself," Mimi said with a smile as she stood up, "I'll go too!"

Izzy smiled a small smile, looking around at everyone, "Alright, it's unanimous!"

"That's great!" Tai exclaimed, high fiving Lucy, "It's decided! We're going to Server!"

"In the morning, though," Joe said, "I don't know about you, but if we're going to go out to sea, I'd rather it be during the day."

"I can't say I disagree with that," Lucy said, still grinning about the journey to come.

"Yeah, if we're going to be meeting a lot of new people, I need my beauty sleep to look my best," Mimi informed the group.

"I think we could all use a restful sleep without the threat of a digimon attacking," Matt said, sitting down near one of the trees, TK coming over to sit next to him.

"It would still be a good idea to set a watch," Izzy said matter of factly, "The black gears are gone, but if you'll remember, the first few digimon we faced were aggressive enough without them." The team shuddered to think of the monsters that had attacked _before_ Devimon started turning good digimon evil. If the gears had gotten to them, who knows how hard they would have been to fight.

"I'll take first watch," Lucy volunteered.

"And I'll take second," Izzy announced.

"I'll take one after that," Joe said.

"And I'll take the last," Sora said, "So, let's get some sleep. Tomorrows gonna be busy."

The kids picked their favorite patches of ground and curled up to rest. The digimon kept their partners company, while Lucy moved to make sure she had a good view of the camp.

"Skymomon," Lucy said after she was sure everyone was asleep.

"Yeah, Lucy?" the little digimon asked from her shoulder.

"Do you think Gennai might know why I feel like I belong here?" She asked, looking up at Infinity Mountain as she spoke.

"I dunno, but there's only one way to find out," Skymomon grinned, "We'll just have to go visit him and find out the truth for ourselves!"

Lucy smiled, "Yep! You're right, Skymomon, so we've got another reason to go defeat those evil digimon!"

+-9

The night passed without incident. Lucy woke up Izzy, Izzy woke up Joe and Joe woke up Sora. Sora woke up everyone after her shift had passed and, after a quick breakfast of more fish and some left over fruits and berries, they quickly got to work. The kids found some sturdy trees near the beach they could use to build a raft and began to chop them down in various ways.

"_Pepper Breath!_" Agumon called out before shooting out a fire ball at one of the trees. Honestly, after all the times that his attack had just bounced off the hide of one of the digimon affected by a black gear, Lucy and the others half expected it not to do anything to the tree. Surprisingly though, the tree was cut down with just one burst.

"Timber!" Tai called out, making sure no one was caught in the path of the falling trees.

"_Blue Blaster!_" Gabumon shouted, breathing his blue stream of fire at another tree, knocking it down as well.

"At our current rate, it will take us forever to build a raft," Izzy sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Izzy," Sora said, "It's not like we're in any kind of hurry." She heard something behind her and turned around to see Leomon walking towards them with purpose. "Leomon!" She quailed, he didn't look happy and they hadn't even thought to ask the unofficial king of the island whether it was okay or not to cut down these trees.

He stopped before Izzy and Sora, "So I heard you were all going to Server."

"How did you hear that?" Sora asked, just glad that the digimon wasn't attacking again.

"Oh, you know us monsters, we all love to gossip," it might have been a joke, but with his constant scowl, the girl wasn't sure, "I thought I'd see if you needed some help with anything."

The two kids immediately smiled in relief, glad to have the lion digimon still on their side.

"You mean you'll really help us?" Sora asked hopefully.

"I've got some friends who want to help as well," he looked behind himself, back the way he'd come from. Coming along through the trees was a procession of familiar digimon, ones that they'd saved or befriended. The first three that were visible were Elecmon, Centarumon(Izzy and Mimi had run into him in some maze like ruins, saved him from a black gear and he told them the legend of the Digivices.), and Mojyamon(he was also infected by a black gear, but with the help of Frigimon, Garurumon and Greymon were able to stop him.)

"Elecmon!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Mojyamon and Centarumon too!" Tai exclaimed.

"Yeah, hi!" Elecmon called, "What's up?"

Mimi laughed happily as the digimon came out of the wood work, literally, willing to help the children, "Monzaemon!" The big yellow teddy bear smiled happily as he approached with his usual slow, heavy gait.

"Hey, look!" TK pointed out, "It's Frigimon!" That digimon had been the one Matt told him had helped him and Tai get to Primary Village in time to save him and Patamon from Leomon.

Joe shivered as the frozen digimon passed by, surprised by the sudden cold.

"Hey, it's Meramon!" TK pointed out next. As the fiery digimon approached, the Yokomon from the village approached as well, swarming over Biyomon causing her to laugh out loud.

"_Fist of the Beast King!_" Leomon roared, sending his energy attack flying through the trees. It cut down a good dozen before it dissipated.

"Wow, Leomon!" Agumon said, glad that the big guy was on their side again. Gabumon just stared in complete awe.

Meramon stepped up next, taking the huge logs and burning away the branches then tossing them through the air for Centarumon to shorten with an energy blast.

"It's good to have friends with high temperatures," Lucy quipped, getting a giggle from Mimi and their digimon.

Mojyamon was next, stepping up with the Yokomon, together, they used some of his shed fur to make a nice, said for the raft, and some rope to hold it together. Elecmon used his net making skills to help this along as well.

After all the logs were tied together with the make shift rope, Leomon said the mast for the sail in the center. Frigimon brought over a couple of barrels filled with nearly fifty gallons of fresh water, and Centarumon had a couple armfuls of food, kept in large, wooden crates.

"This is so awesome!" Tai said, holding his fists before him in his excitement, "We'll be ready to go before lunch time at this rate!"

After the Yokomon had attached the sail to the mast, all they needed to do was get it down to the beach.

"Leave that to me," Frigimon said, "_Subzero Ice Punch!_" He began making an ice path to slide the raft along. In only a few minutes, the slope was ready and the digimon all piled on to make sure that the raft didn't just drift away when it got out into the water. Leomon and Mojyamon gave it a shove to start it off and the raft took off down the hill.

The digimon all cheered as they broke out of the forest into the open air for a few second before gravity took over again and they dropped into the water.

The kids all ran out of the forest to join their digimon, laughing and cheering themselves. Things were definitely looking up.

"Yeah, it really works!" Matt cried happily.

"Alright!" Tai exclaimed.

"It's hydrodynamically designed!" Izzy said, looking at it.

"I think I'm getting seasick already," Joe sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Joe," Lucy said, stepping up beside him, "It's just a little, massive ocean."

"It may not be the smoothest ride," Tai said, "But it'll do."

Leomon came up to the children, "Believe me, that raft is strong enough to get you across the ocean."

"Thanks, Leomon," Tai said to the lion digimon, "We never could have done it without your help."

"Ah!" TK intoned, the egg in his had shifted, then a crack began to form.

"What is it?" Matt asked. The others noticed what was happening and crowded in behind TK to see a digimon being born. The crack spread out from almost the exact center of the egg, going around it until the top popped off showing a tiny little thing inside with black dots for eyes and a smile on it's tiny little face.

"Digiegg, you hatched!" TK exclaimed. The little digimon inside the lower half of the egg jumped up a few inches and kicked the last of the shell away before landing in TK's hands again.

"Poyo. Poyomon!" The little thing said.

"How cute!" Mimi gushed.

"That's great!" Sora added.

"I'm glad to see it hatched for you, TK," Lucy pat him on the shoulder.

"Yeah!" TK twirled around happily, "He did it! Yay!" TK nuzzled the little guy with the side of his face, both of them enjoying it.

"Poyomon is a jellyfish type digimon of few words," Tentomon explained, "but if his friends are in trouble, he's ready for action."

With that little development occurring, the kids were in better spirits than ever before. They all quickly climbed onto the raft and turned to face the digimon of File Island to give their last fare wells.

"This is goodbye," Leomon said, sounding a little sad to see them go.

"And good luck!" Frigimon called.

"Thanks!" Tai shouted back as the raft drifted out to sea.

"Goodbye!" Sora waved happily. Lucy was right beside her, waving away at the group of friendly digimon.

The rest of the kids joined in, wishing the digimon of File Island the best of luck in the future and giving promises to come back some day.

With that, the children began a new leg of their journey. They didn't know what kind of danger they would face, or if they'd be strong enough to take it on, but they moved forward anyway, bravely accepting this new challenge for the sake of going home. The continent of Server awaited them at the end of their voyage and there, some of their toughest battles yet were soon to occur.

But that was still in the future. All they could do now was wait for the time they landed, preparing for the battles to come.

+-9

Hours had passed and the sun was directly overhead. The heat was contrasted by the cool ocean below giving the kids the perfect middle ground for their journey east. Once they'd gotten out of view of the island, the ocean swells had turned... monstrous. It appeared as if the boat would rise and fall five feet over each swell, and all the shifting and swaying was getting to Joe, Izzy and Mimi. Lucy was actually just fine with all this, napping away happily under the warm sun, lulled to sleep by the not so gentle swaying of the raft.

Standing to the front of the raft Tai was looking through his mini telescope, hoping to see anything in the distance, but there was no such luck. Sora and their digimon were standing with him, eyes on the horizon.

"I can't see anything but more ocean," he told the group.

"I wonder how much longer this trip will take," Joe said walking up, his face more pale than usual.

"Chill out, Joe," Tai said, "We just left."

"The salt air is killing my sinuses," the boy complained, "And we've only got enough food for two weeks."

"If we run out of food, we'll catch some fish!" Tai assured the boy, looking back through his telescope again.

"Well, the one good thing is, this is beautiful weather for sailing," Sora said, looking from the dark blue of the ocean to the oddly speckled sky. The raft then took on a truly massive swell, rising twenty feet before reaching the top.

"Ugh!" Mimi groaned, "I don't feel so good," she held her hands before her mouth as if to help keep the contents of her stomach in. Palmon was rubbing her back, trying to make her feel better.

Right beside the brown haired girl was Izzy, a nauseous look on his face, "I didn't calculate for these waves being so rough."

TK was fine, despite it all, just sitting on one side of the raft and playing with Poyomon. The little digimon was halving the time of its short life, bouncing in the little boy's hands. A wave knocked the boat forward suddenly, while Poyomon was in the air, and if it weren't for the eight year old's quick actions, his little digimon might have been lost at sea.

"Whoa!" he breathed, "Oh, Poyomon, be careful."

Suddenly, directly in the path of their raft, a wave began to grow.

"Look!" Tai shouted, waking Lucy from her nap, "Tidal wave!" It grew and grew, then crashed with titanic force. Luckily it missed the raft, but it was a near miss. Lucy had to grab onto the mast to keep from losing her balance.

"Whoa!" Matt called out, "That had to be twelve feet tall!"

"Eighteen point three, to be exact," Izzy said, not feeling any less nauseous.

"Was that another boat that caused that wave?" Joe asked while Tai and Agumon looked around.

"There's no boat that can do that," Tai said, not seeing anything.

Just as he was saying that something enormous surfaced in the shifting waters ahead. It was a real dark brown color and looked to be taller than Greymon.

"An Island!" the boy suggested. All of the children stared at the 'island' shocked that they found something that big out in the ocean. It seemed odd that, out of all the directions they could have gone, this thing surfaced right near them.

Sora took a closer look at the hulking mass and saw an important detail, "An island? Since when does an island have fins?"

Just then the giant creature submerged again, process causing more great waves that rocked the boat unsteadily, causing all the children to cry out in fear. If their luck was anything to go by, the giant creature was a digimon that was about to make them sorry they decided to set sail.

Lucy looked over the edge of the raft, to see if she could see the silhouette of the beast, but all she saw was dark blue ocean beneath them. If she had been about fifty feet higher she might have seen that the creature was indeed, right below them, but it was so massive that, were it above them, it would have eclipsed the sun.

"Head's up!" Tai yelled, spotting a tail several times larger than their raft lifting out of the water and quickly submerging after nearly causing them to capsize. They were then knocked into the air by another huge wave as the giant digimon flipped itself out of the water, smashing the back of its head into the waves. This gave the group to notice that the top oh it's head and half way down its massive back, that brown colored piece they originally thought was an island actually acted as armor plating. It had sharp spikes sticking out of it near the mouth and the rest of the body of the creature as a greyish blue color.

"Whamon is a giant digimon who lives in the deep oceans of the digital world. It's jet arrows are unbelievable," Tentomon gave everyone a brief rundown of the creature they had stumbled across.

"It was massive!" Gabumon exclaimed, shocked and scared that something that big had chosen to pick a fight with them.

Tentomon continued with his little explanation, "A Whamon can sometimes be fierce, but I've never seen one act this aggressive!"

The monster surfaced again, rushing towards them with it's bone plated head at the fore. Before it got close to them however it opened its humongous, absolutely cavernous mouth. Already the kids could guess it's goal as it didn't slow it's approach. Screams filled the air as they floated into that maw and it closed behind them. They didn't have to worry about chewing, though, the digimon just letting them float right down his throat whole.

"I hope we don't give him a sore throat!" Sora yelled over the sound of the rushing water, the entire group have latched onto the mast in the center or someone who did have a grip on it. Lucy had to give Sora respect for her compassion. Lucy was the type to hope that she made her enemy choke if they decided to eat her.

"Technically, it's not the throat, it's the esophagus that leads to the stomach!" Izzy yelled back.

"He thinks we're fast food!" Joe quailed.

"Something really did eat us!" Mimi cried, holding on for dear life and Palmon holding on to her.

"Sooner or later this has to lead to an exit!" Sora shouted again.

"Well, if that was the entrance that only leaves one other direction to go, and I'm not sure I want to go that way!" Lucy yelled.

"This is damaging my hair all the way to the roots!" Mimi screamed.

"Use my roots," Palmon said, trying to be helpful.

"You're a plant!" Mimi replied.

The Whamon's throat seemed to go on forever. Lucy could have sworn they had dropped down the beast's esophagus for a little under two minutes and they were still going. And if that wasn't enough, these giant slimy things were hopping out of the water and trying to hit their raft!

"What is that gross, gooey junk?" Tai asked, not sure if he really wanted an answer.

Izzy provided one anyway, "Maybe they're antibodies! They're attacking us because they think we're germs or something!" And more and more of the jelly things jumped out of the water in the Whamon's throat, launching themselves at the Digidestined. They were always off by just enough to miss, but there were some pretty close calls.

Finally, the tunnel came to an end and the children were deposited into a surprisingly well lit stomach cavity. It was mostly pink and white and the light was nearly as bright as sun light.

"Finally, we stopped!" Sora said in relief, "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, but if we're where I think we are, we wont be for long," Lucy said, a fearful look on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked, gasping for breath after that chilling roller coaster ride of doom.

"She means," Izzy said, standing on his own feet, "anatomically speaking, we should be in the stomach."

"The stomach?" TK gasped, turning to Matt with Poyomon in his arms, "Isn't that where food goes after it's chewed up?"

"Yeah," the older boy said simply. And just then red lights lit up on the walls of the massive stomach. Soon after that a yellowish liquid began to mix with the water.

"Gastric juice!" Izzy hissed in fright.

"What?" Mimi asked, hoping that meant something else entirely than what she thought.

"It's the acid in the stomach that dissolves the food!" The boy exclaimed. The acid moved quickly through the water until it reached the edge of the raft. Steam began to rise and the acids hissed as they began to dissolve the wood.

"We're melting!" TK cried.

"Don't let it get on you!" Tai advised, looking for any possible way out of this mess.

"We better get out of here before we give him a major ulcer," Joe suggested.

"Look!" Sora cried out, pointing to the roof of the stomach lining, "A black gear!"

"That's why Whamon was acting so aggressive," Agumon theorized.

"Joe, you have to do something!" Gomamon told his partner.

"What? Why me?" the oldest boy asked fearfully, genuinely having no idea what he could do to make any of this better.

"Here," Palmon said, stepping up to the plate, "Somebody can climb these. _Poison Ivy!_" She sent her vines out to latch onto the gear.

Tai took the risk without even thinking about it, "I'll do it!" He grabbed onto the vines and, hanging from the bottom while using his hands and arms to swing himself forward, he made his way up the vines at a quick but steady pace. Once he was within ten feet of the menacing gear his Digivice activated and the light that shined from it destroyed the gear in its entirety.

"Whoa!" the boy cried out as the vines began to fall, what with nothing to hold onto. Luckily, before the boy could fall in the acids below, Palmon pulled both the wild haired human and her vines back onto the raft.

"Okay," he said after a surprisingly agile flip through the air and landing on his feet, "I destroyed it!"

Before anything more could be said, the acidic waters began to glow brighter and brighter until they were in a lake of bright white light. Then the raft began to lift into the air. The kids could do nothing but scream as their raft was buffeted about again. He only good thing was, this time, they were moving up instead of down. The tunnel seemed to be leading to the top of the head and that meant...

"He's sending us out the blow hole!" Lucy yelled over the screams of the others.

"Everybody hold on!" Tai ordered, locking one arm around the mast and the other around the pink haired girl. Skymomon was clutching onto her partner from the back, her tail wrapped around the human's waist while Agumon dug his claws into the would to help him stay attached to the raft. The other kids followed this example, grabbing the raft with one hand and grabbing either a digimon or another child with the other. The flight up was a lot faster than the ride down and soon they saw light up above.

"Get ready!" Matt shouted.

The children and their digimon all screamed as they were blasted nearly fifty feet into the air. Looking down, they could see Whamon below them. Luckily they were drifting a little to the left, so they would hit the water.

Unluckily, the ropes securing the logs of the raft together had been burnt enough by the acid that hitting the surface of the water causing their boat to practically disintegrate.

The kids and their digimon managed to grab onto a piece of the wreckage. Lucy herself had managed to crawl up on one of the crates, out of breath and hurting a little from when she hit the water. She wasn't the only one either.

"Sora," Biyomon said weakly, "Are you okay?"

"Ech!" Sora grunted, "Yeah."

"Somehow, we got out of there," Agumon said from next to Tai as they held onto the log.

"Yeah," the boy breathed, unable to believe how crazy this day was already turning out to be.

"Poyomon, talk to me!" TK desperately demanded of his baby digimon. He was sitting on a log like he was riding a horse, Matt and Gabumon on either side of the log to keep it from flipping the little boy into the sea.

"Poyo," the little digimon sighed.

"You're okay!" TK exclaimed, relieved.

Whamon, who had just been sitting in the water a little bit away from the kids, suddenly turned and made his way over. Mimi screamed, expecting that the humongous monster was about to try and eat them again.

"Go away! Not again!" she cried.

"Sorry about that," a voice came from within the whale, but he wasn't moving his massive mouth, "I must have had a tummy ache or something."

"It's okay," Biyomon told the gigantic digimon, "We all know it wasn't your fault."

"That's right," Sora affirmed, "It was the black gear inside you."

"Those black gears are rude," Tai said, "I bet that's the last one, though."

"I bet it's not!" Joe called out from behind the boy.

"Thanks kids," the digimon chuckled at their antics, "I owe you one."

"Don't mention it, Whamon," Tai told the whale.

"Actually, if it's not too much trouble, we were going to Server," Lucy said from her crate.

"Server? Why, I could get there in five days. Three without traffic," Whamon, "Tell you what, why don't I take you kids there, as thanks for helping me out?"

"Really?" Sora asked, "That would be great!"

"Yeah, thanks, big guy!" Matt said with a grin.

"No problem," The whale dove beneath the waves and swam underneath the group the slowly lifted out of the water so they were on his armor plated back, "It's not every day that your lunch saves your life."

With a single flip of his massive tail, the Whamon was off like a rocket of the sea. He must have been doing at least forty knots, if not faster.

"Oh wow!" Lucy said, "This is awesome. A lot smoother than that raft."

"Isn't it?" Sora said with a smile.

"Yeah," Joe said, happy about their method of travel for the moment, "I barely feel seasick at all."

"Yes, and this will make our journey far more expedient," Izzy said with a smile as the wind whipped through his hair.

"Yeah, now if only we could find those Tags and Crests that Devimon hid," Tai said.

"Did you say Devimon?" Whamon asked.

"Yeah," Tai said, "do you know him?"

"Well, I don't know anything about Tags or Crests, but a while ago, Devimon hid something," the whale said in his rich baritone, "Deep at the bottom of the ocean."

"Can you tell us where?" Tai asked.

"It's on the way to Server," the digimon said, "You could all ride inside me and I'll take you there. But no tickling!" If Whamon could smile, it certainly would be.

"Well, let's do this," Lucy said, "Let's get those tags."

"You said it, Lucy!" Tai agreed.

Whamon opened his mouth again and the kids and digimon slid down the sides of his massive head to drop in. He held his head a little bit out of the water this time so they wouldn't be washed down his throat.

"I'm not entirely comfortable with this," Joe said, his voice cracking a little bit.

"It's either this or riding on the outside," Matt said, "And I don't know about you, but I can only hold my breath for about a minute."

"I'm good," Joe said, sitting down on the digimon's tongue.

The giant mouth closed once everyone was in, and the whale descended into the waves.

Within a good five minutes, the whale's movement stopped. His cavernous mouth opened and the kids saw an underwater cave. They piled out, stepping into the water free cave happy to be on solid land if only for a little while.

"I'm so out of shape," Whamon complained, "I have to rest here for a while. I gotta drop a couple thousand pounds."

Lucy giggled at that.

"Thanks, Whamon," Tai said with a grin. The group then turned to walk into the cave. For nearly two hundred feet it was just dark spaces, stalactites and stalagmites. Finally they noticed a light coming from the end of the tunnel. They hurried ahead and came upon a... convenience store?

"What's that?" Joe said, not believing his eyes.

"Sign says Deli Mart," Lucy told him, not quite believing it either.

Before the children could run in and raid the shelves for their favorite snacks or the Tags, a crack appeared in the ground and a drill popped out followed by a purple and white digimon around the size of Garurumon. It's body was covered in fur, it's teeth were big and sharp and at the end of each paw was another three drills in the place of claws.

"What is it?" Matt asked, Standing next to Tai.

"Drimogemon!" Gomamon said.

As usual it was Tentomon that told the children what he knew about this digimon, "Drimogemon lives deep inside the earth, drilling tunnels. He uses his Iron Drill Spin and Crusher Bone to wipe out his enemies."

"Ah, a black gear!" Sora pointed out, just barely able to make it out on the digimon's back.

"Told you that wasn't the last one!" Joe exclaimed to Tai.

"It is Lord Devimon's will that no one shall pass!" The mole digimon growled. The drill on his nose whirred to life and he began to approach the children threateningly.

"Tai, leave this to us digimon," Agumon told his partner, "You try to find the Tags."

"I got it!" Tai said.

"Ha! You think that drill scares us? Think again!" Gomamon shouted before he glowed with the light of Digivolution, "Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" Ikkakumon met the drilling digimon half way, blocking his drill nose with his black horn.

"Come on, everybody!" Tai took the opening to lead the kids around the two quarreling digimon and into the store.

Once inside, the kids spread out, looking for the Tags.

"Wait a minute, TK, Joe, Mimi!" Lucy called, gaining the three kids' attention, "Start stuffing your bags with food while you look! Remember our food was destroyed when our raft was. Joe, you make sure to get some bottles of water."

"Oh, that's right," Mimi said after a moment of thought, then began to put the sweet junk foods she liked into her bag.

"Good thinking, Lucy," Joe told the girl, already taking the water bottles out of the coolers on the back walls before moving on to other items that wouldn't have to be cooked.

"Here," TK said, holding out his backpack to Lucy, "I don't want to let go of Poyomon. Will you fill it up for me?"

"No problem, kiddo," she smiled and began to put small bags of chips and dip and other things intothe boys backpack.

Back outside the battle was only getting worse.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Ikkakumon shouted before he launched one of his horns that turned into a missile at the mole digimon after he slammed him into the front of the store. It shook the place up, causing some of the shelves to fall and dust to fill the air.

"I think it's tie I joined the fight," Tentomon called as he flew through the air, he too began to glow, "Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!"

"Grah!" Drimogemon growled, pulling a large boomerang shaped bone from somewhere, "_Crusher bone!_" He tossed it at the flying insect, spinning it around in the air like a buzz saw blade. But Kabuterimon simply dodged like it was not even a problem.

"Kabuterimon!" Agumon yelled, "Aim for the black gear!"

The giant bug took the advice, flying around in the large cavern till he was behind the purple and white digimon, "_Electro Shocker!_" The orb of electricity flew through the air until it hit the black gear, destroying it.

Almost immediately, Drimogemon stopped attacking.

Inside the Deli Mart, TK had dropped his digimon in the explosion and couldn't see him through the dust.

"Poyomon!" He cried, "Where are you? Poyomon!" he stepped around to another aisle ad saw his digimon hiding under one of the shelves, just missing being crushed by one, "Oh, Poyomon!" The boy ran over and grabbed the little digimon, pulling him out from under the shelf. He didn't expect to pull a little treasure box out with him, "What's in the box?"

"Please forgive me for attacking you," Drimogemon said, back outside, "I really didn't mean anything personal by it."

"It's alright," Palmon said, waving away his concerns, "You're not the only digimon to fall under Devimon's evil spell."

"Pardon me, but do you know what he hid down here?" Gabumon asked.

"Why, yes," Drimogemon said as he began to go back to his tunnels, "It was a box full of Tags, or so he said, they're next to the jerky."

Back in the store, TK presented the box of to his big brother.

"Hey, everybody," Matt called, getting everyone to come running, "I think TK found them."

"Not me," the little guy said with a smile, "Poyomon did the finding!" He held the little guy up.

"Way to go, Poyomon!" Lucy said and the little critter blushed at the praise.

Opening the box revealed several golden pendants with rectangular slots on the front.

"Just like the one Gennai showed us during his transmission," Izzy said, looking into the box.

"How pretty!" Mimi exclaimed, taking one for herself. She removed her hat to slip the necklace over her head.

"That looks really cool," Lucy said, grabbing one as well. Soon enough all the children had a Tag around their necks.

"I think that's all we need here," Tai said, "Let's get going!"

"Yeah, I am so ready to be back under the open sky," Matt agreed as the group made their way back to Whamon.

"Found them already?" the humongous digimon asked, "That was quick."

"Yeah, luckily, we didn't have to search too long. You ready to take us back up to the surface?" Tai asked.

"Sure, hop in," Whamon opened his mouth and the kids and their digimon filed in.

Not ten minutes later the kids were back in the open see air, enjoying another beautiful, if odd, sunset, from Whamon's back. All of them had their Tags and the future was looking brighter already.

"Remember what Gennai told us, you guys," the boy said, "The crests are scattered throughout the continent of Server."

"And if we get both the Tags and the Crests," Gabumon began.

"We'll all be able to Digivolve once again," Agumon finished.

"Then we'll just have to go out there and find the crests!" Tai said with enthusiasm.

"And when we've got them all, those evil digimon will be sorry, right partner?" Lucy said with a grin to her digimon.

Skymomon grinned right back, nodding her head happily. The journey looked like it was just getting started, but as long as the kids had their digimon, everything would be okay, for sure!

Chapter Eleven: End.

Please Enjoy.


	12. Chapter 12 Etemon's Dark Network

Chapter Twelve: The Dark Network of Etemon

Five days passed surprisingly quickly. Especially compared the five days that came before the trip to Server. They went through five days of nearly endless attack from several different digimon, then, set out to sea. In the ocean, the digimon were bigger, badder and hungrier. The only one they had even encountered though was Whamon.

For Lucy, this was the perfect way to travel across the sea. Honestly, she was sure they could have taken on the other creatures, but they actually needed a break before they had to start battling the next set of monsters. And, as it turns out, it was a pretty good call of hers to have Mimi, Joe and TK to stuff their bags full of food at that convenience store. They were able to catch more fish and eat them, just like Tai said, but Whamon wasn't a huge fan of them starting a fire on his head just so they could eat.

Luckily, the digimon liked their fish however they could get it, so raw was nothing to them. The kids ate the food from the store, the digimon ate the fish, and everyone was happy.

Currently, it was early morning on the fifth day. Tai was the only one who stood awake, eagerly looking forward to reaching land.

"We left File Island almost five days ago," the boy said, resting his fists against his hips.

"We're almost there," Whamon said, a smile in his tone.

"Really?" Tai retrieved his telescope from one of his pockets and held it to his eye. For a moment he didn't see anything, then, just over the horizon, he saw something, rocks it looked like, "Hey, I think I see an iceberg. Either that, or it could be the continent of Server!"

"It's Server," Whamon told him, speeding up his pace a little bit.

"Great!" Tai turned around to the other kids and sleeping digimon, "Hey, wake up, everybody! We're almost there!"

"I'm up!" Matt snapped to, sounding tired, but trying not to act like it, "I was only resting my eyes."

Joe, who was sleeping a few feet away, quipped, "Yeah, well, your eyes were snoring pretty loudly."

"Come on!" Tai insisted, shaking the shoulders of Sora and Lucy, "We're gonna be there in a few minutes! We've gotta make sure we have everything we need!"

Lucy woke up just behind Sora, rubbing her eyes to clear away the last vestiges of sleep. She looked around, seeming not to recognize where she was for a moment, then looked to see that none of the other kids were panicking so she didn't either.

"Wha's goin' on?" she slurred, not quite having the energy to get to her feet yet.

"We've arrived! Well, we're about to," Tai amended.

"We're really there?" Sora asked.

"Well, I'm ready for land again!" Izzy said, standing up with the energy of anticipation.

"I'd sure like a bed that didn't move," TK commented.

"Ditto," Lucy commented, though she did lay back down. She wasn't going back to sleep, she just didn't have any energy yet. She'd never been a morning person. "Er, no offense, Whamon," she said after a couple of seconds.

"None taken," the giant digimon laughed.

"Wow, that island's huge!" Agumon exclaimed as the continent came into view of the naked eye.

"I've never seen one so big!" Biyomon said from beside him.

Tentomon buzzed into the air behind them, "It's not an island, it's the continent of Server."

Palmon was trying to wake the last sleeping member of the group, Mimi, "Mimi, you've just got to wake up and look at this!" She shook the girls shoulder a couple times, "We're going to land on a big continent!"

"Mm, no," she whined in her sleep, "I'm getting a pedicure..." the girl rolled over, turning her back to the green digimon.

"Aw, Mimi," Palmon sighed. The other kids had a little chuckle at that, even Lucy, who was still finding her energy lacking to do much more than lay there ineffectually.

Twenty minutes later, they were only a hundred yards from an inlet and both Mimi and Lucy had finally gotten to their feet.

"We're almost there!" Biyomon exclaimed.

"Server, here we come!" TK grinned, still keeping a good grip on Poyomon.

Once Whamon had pulled right up to the rock out cropping by the sea Tai was the first one down. He slid down their humongous friends head plate, and hopped at the end, taking him onto dry land, Agumon right beside him. Matt, TK and Sora were next, followed by Lucy, Joe and Izzy. The digimon that could fly, flew, the ones that couldn't followed their partners down. Finally, everyone was off the back of the giant digimon except one.

"Come on, Mimi," Sora yelled up to the girl.

Mimi wouldn't have it though, "Uh, this is a little too 'extreme sports' for me. Is there anyway I can be air lifted onto the island?" Even Palmon was on the continent waiting for her. She hadn't meant to leave her partner up there, she just thought the human girl would have followed her down.

"Sorry, we can't just move the continent for you, Mimi," Izzy said, looking at a map he'd made from the one on his computer. There were some notable differences between Izzy's map and Tai's. "Now, according to the map, this is the best beach to come ashore."

"Just put one foot in front of the other and you'll be fine, really," Joe tried next, "It's as easy as falling off a log!"

"Yeah? Well, believe me, I've fallen off of plenty of logs and it's not as easy as it lo-aaah!" She screamed out the last part as Whamon suddenly shifted, causing her to go sliding down his side, then, before she got too low on his head plate shifted up again to send her onto the shore. She wasn't as nimble as Tai or Sora, either, so she couldn't manage to make her landing look pretty. All she'd managed to do was find a soft landing on Izzy, the two of them hitting the ground in a heap of limbs.

Lifting herself up, off of the younger boy, she quailed, "I think I broke a nail." The boy under neath her looked like he'd been knocked for a loop.

"Good luck finding the Crests," Whamon told the children as he left to go back out to sea. The children waved their goodbyes, wishing the whale digimon the best of luck. The very last sight they had of the larger than average whale monster was his gigantic tail as he dove beneath the waves.

"So what do we do now?" Mimi asked.

"While you were asleep, Whamon told us where to go," Palmon told the girl, "In the forest, miles from here, there's a Koromon village."

"Hmm," the girl placed a hand to her chin, "Why does that sound familiar to me?"

"I Digivolved from a Koromon when we first met," Agumon explained.

"Oh, yeah, guess I forgot," Mimi said, smiling at finding the memory.

"The Koromon are a group of digimon always willing to help out those in need," Tentomon said.

"Okay, gang!" Tai said, pumping on fist into the air, "Let's move out!" the group nodded, grins all around. Things were looking up already. Now they just needed to find the crests, whoop some butt, and hopefully they'd be home free. Lucy hoped they'd be able to find that guy, Gennai. She, and to a lesser extent the others, needed some answers.

+-9

No one really understands the scope of a 'few miles' until they begin to walk it. What seems like a short distance becomes a difficult hike faster than one would really realize. Especially under the hot sun. By the time noon rolled around, none of the children were all that excited about the journey.

"This place is bigger than I thought," Sora said, holding her hand over her eyes to block the sun's glare from her view.

"It's simple physics," Gomamon said, "The universe is expanding."

"I think my feet are expanding," Joe complained, "We've been walking all day long and there's no sign of the village yet."

"Oh, I'd give anything to be in a nice clean bath tub with bath bubbles," Mimi sighed, the sun beating down extra hard on the group as they walked through the desert.

"You can do that once we get to the village," Palmon assured the girl.

"You really think they have a bath tub there?" she turned pleading eyes on the plant digimon.

"Well..." she seemed speculative, not really sure if they'd have a tub exactly, but there would certainly be water nearby that they could wash off in.

"Forget the tub, I'd deal with brain freeze if I could just get a slurpee," Lucy said.

"What's a slurpee?" Skymomon asked.

"It's a frozen drink with a fruit flavor, but you have to be careful not to drink it too fast, it will give you a headache from the cold," the pink haired girl described as she trudged along.

Agumon, walking next to Tai at the head of the procession looked up suddenly, scenting something in the air. Suddenly he took off to the side, hopping along the sand and the rocks.

"Hey, Agumon, wait up!" Tai called after the dino.

"I smell Koromon!" Agumon said back, stopping and pointing off, further inland.

"Huh?" Tai pulled out his telescope again and scanned the distance for any hint of the Koromon village, "There! I see a forest!"

"A forest?" the entire group asked, sounding almost disbelieving.

"Is that where the Koromon village is?" Matt asked.

"It must be! Come on!" He turned and began to run.

"Wait a minute!" Lucy yelled just as everyone began to run after him.

"What is it? Is something wrong, Lucy?" Sora asked.

"Is it a bad digimon?" TK questioned, looking around and making sure to hold Poyomon protectively.

"Nothing like that, just that you guys are gonna tire yourselves out, needlessly," the girl said, "Think about it. Tai had to look through his scope to even see the forest. How far away do you think that is? Do you really want to run the whole way there?"

"That's actually a very astute observation," Izzy decreed, "We should pace ourselves. It may take longer, but we wont be nearly as exhausted when we arrive."

"I guess that makes sense," Tai said, "but let's still get walking then. The sooner we make it there the better."

"Hear, hear!" Agumon said, a smile on his face. He couldn't wait to see a bunch of Koromon all gathered together. If they were anything like he was as a Koromon, they'd be awesome to spend the night with. They'd even give them directions they could follow to local watering holes and safe camp grounds in between fighting the bad guys.

In the end, Lucy was right. Running all the way to the forest would have been extremely tiring. Especially since they didn't know how far into the wildly growing brush they'd have to go before they would find the Koromon Village.

"See," the girl said, "It took a little while longer, but we still got here." she sighed in content as she stood under the shade of the trees.

"I see your point," Mimi said, languishing in the shade herself, fanning herself with her large pink hat.

"No time to rest now, we've got to find that village," Joe said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry." That brought a chorus of agreement and they were off again. Agumon and Tai maintained the lead, the dinosaur digimon's nose leading them to their destination.

It really didn't take that long to cross through the forest, maybe thirty minutes at the most. They finally stumbled on a clearing in the trees and there, right in the middle of the entire forest, was the village. It had several dozen smaller tents and one huge one in the center.

"Alright!" Tai said, pumping his fist high into the air, "We're here!"

"Great!" TK exclaimed, "Pop tents! We can rest!"

"Even better!" Mimi said excitedly as she climbed down the hill, "A bath!" Palmon was right on her heels as usual, willing to follow her somewhat ditzy partner anywhere.

"Wait, stop!" the plant digimon called, trying to get her to slow down.

Lucy was about to move forward too, but there was look on Agumon's face that made her pause.

"Something doesn't feel right," Agumon said, "I know I smelled Koromon, but now I can't sense any of them in the village."

"Maybe they just... went camping?" Lucy suggested.

"I don't think so. We should be careful down there," Agumon warned.

"Either way, we better go after Mimi before she gets herself into trouble," Tai said, running after the girl.

Meanwhile, said girl was just getting into the village proper.

"A bath!" She cried happily, "Somebody grab me a rubber duck!" She came up behind a large group of little grey things that had large bunny like ears, "Excuse me, where's the shampoo?" She was a little startled as the things all turned around as one. They all had beady yellow eyes, set into red sclera.

"Hmm?" They all said as one, looking up at the human girl.

"Palmon, do you really think that these are Koromon?" Mimi asked, remembering the pink little thing that Agumon used to be. She supposed it was possible that Agumon was different from other Koromon, but Biyomon, in her Yokomon form, had been no different at all from the village of Yokomon.

"No way, Mimi. These are Pagumon," Palmon told her partner.

"Hmm, Pagumon," Tentomon told the group as they approached, "There is more to them than meets the eye."

Before Mimi and Palmon knew it they were surrounded by the grey little digimon. Mimi was swept off her feet, literally, and Palmon was knocked aside. The human girl was then carted off by the Pagumon to who knows where.

"Oh no!" Palmon grunted, getting up as the others came up behind her, "They've got Mimi!"

"Don't let 'em get away!" Joe called, running forward.

"Around that corner!" Gomamon called. The group rounded the corner, ready for a fight, but the only thing they saw was more Pagumon, no sign of Mimi anywhere.

"Which way?" Tai wondered.

"Whoa! Help!" Mimi's voice cried out from the biggest tent in the center of the village.

"To the tower!" Tai ordered, running in head first. Inside the tower it looked, not like a tent, but rather like a very expensive hotel. Nice carpeting, stairs leading to another level, and banisters on the upper level to keep someone from falling down. "Mimi!" The wild haired boy called as everyone followed him inside.

"Hey, Look!" Sora pointed to the stairs, "That's Mimi's hat!" She ran forward and up the stairs till she was able to grab the head gear, "Yikes, there's the price tag. This is definitely hers."

The others hurried up the stairs as well, hoping to find more clues. In a little curtained cove at the top of the steps they saw a familiar brown bag with a Digivice attached.

"That's Mimi's purse. She never goes anywhere without it," Joe pointed out.

"Logically, that could mean only one thing," Izzy said, "she's missing." Everyone was tempted to give the boy a 'no duh!' look, but held off on it for the moment in order to find the missing member of their party.

"That's it!" Tai said, almost sounding angry as he walked into a room with crates and baskets to one side. He moved up to a yellow curtain. Behind him, Sora observed the basket on one shelf. She looked in it and Lucy saw her fingering a familiar pinkish looking dress.

Sora gasped, realizing what was happening, "Tai, don't!" She shouted, trying to stop the boy.

He ignored her, ripping the curtain to one side. Inside, he found Mimi. He found her taking her much desired bath.

"Mimi?" He asked incredulously.

"Is she okay?" Izzy ran up to stand next to him, looking in as well only to see the girl in her current state.

Mimi gasped, turning around quickly and covering herself with her hands, "What are you doing here? Hasn't anyone ever told you to knock first?"

"Uh, we thought you were in trouble. We came to save you!" Tai told her.

"Well, I'm fine so _get out_!" She began throwing bottles of shampoo, basins, anything she could get her hands on at the two boys. And it would turn out that the girl had a great throwing arm and better aim. She nailed Tai with a basin and Izzy with a bottle of shampoo. Both of them fell back, holding their faces in pain.

"I told you not to look," Sora scolded the two, shutting the curtain before any of the other boys accidentally got a look and drew the girl's ire as well.

"Right," Matt said, turning around and leaving the little alcove of yellow curtains and heading back into the main part of the building. He found more of the Pagumon waiting for them.

"We're preparing a feast," One of them said in their somewhat squeaky voice, "you're all invited to join us!"

"That's great!" Joe said, "I'm starving!"

"Me too!" Gomamon agreed.

Soon the group was gathered together on the top floor of the tallest hut, some time after Mimi's bath was finished, and a line of Pagumon wearing funny party hats were putting on a show while the children ate.

"Welcome to our village, we hope you never go. Stay and visit here with us and please enjoy the show!" The line all chanted at once.

Gabumon turned to Agumon, "This is really a Pagumon village."

"Something's wrong here," Agumon insisted, "I know I smelled Koromon here! I'd bet my nose on it!"

"Here's your platter!" A pair of the little grey things said as they came over to Tai, Matt and their digimon. The plate they were holding with their ears was full of fruits and berries.

"I feel just like a princess in a big, beautiful palace!" Mimi gushed, holding her hands before her, her eyes closed as if she could just see it in her imagination.

"I once had a chihuahua named Princess," Joe admitted, looking back on the memory of his dog.

"Really? That..." Lucy turned her head to one side, "That actually sounds like the dog for you."

"Listen, Tai," Sora began, holding a cream colored fruit before her that looked like a pair, "You don't suppose this is some kind of trap, do you?"

"Course not," he said with a grin, "You think I don't know a good digimon from a bad one?" He didn't wait for her reply before he took a big bite of the fruit, finding it's flavor to his liking.

"This is really strange. I always heard that Pagumon were awful pranksters," Tentomon said, his arms crossed as he rocked from side to side, not quite trusting the food before him yet.

"You were just hearing an awful rumor," Gomamon suggested to the knowledgeable bug digimon.

"Nice of you to say that," the food delivering Pagumon said.

"These guys are really nice little digimon," Biyomon insisted as she picked up another fruit to eat.

"Right!" Palmon agreed.

"Nice digimon!" The servers commented in agreement as they passed by again, looking for anyone who needed seconds, or even thirds.

TK was feeding Poyomon a tiny orange fruit, "You like that?" He asked, a smile on his face. It kind of felt odd, Taking care of the baby digimon. He wasn't really capable of taking care of pets. Just ask Matt, the last cat they had, TK took a paint brush to it, thinking it would be cooler in different colors. So, TK taking care of Poyomon so diligently was actually a bit surprising for both boys. They kind of wondered when TK had grown up so much.

Poyomon was just having the time of his life, the fruit tasted so good, and the Pagumons' singing created a happy atmosphere for everyone.

Suddenly, though, the little guy felt a shifting inside of him. An uneasy look came over his face, and he closed his eyes in focus, his entire body quivering. For a second everyone though the little guy was about to make a mess in TK's arms. Then the little digimon glowed with a brilliant light and in Poyomon's place was a familiar pig-like digimon.

"Poyomon, Digivolve to Tokomon!"

"Hey! He's Tokomon again!" TK exclaimed, holding his arms open for his friend. Tokomon jumped up into his arms, nuzzling the green wearing boy

"The food made him Digivolve," Izzy told the little boy.

"Congratulations," Matt told the two of them. TK just laughed, happy to have his friend growing back into what he remembered him as.

"Together we can make me Patamon again!" Tokomon exclaimed.

"Mm-hm!" TK nodded, a wide smile on his face.

"Let's hear it for Tokomon!" Mimi suddenly said over the sound of everything else, and all of the children started clapping for the little digimon. The Pagumon in particular seemed interested in Tokomon's appearance in the place of Poyomon.

"Way to go, little guy!" Lucy called, among others of similar congratulations.

"Congratulations, way to go! We're so excited, all for you!" The Pagumon sang and clapped their ears. No one noticed the glint in their eyes as they stared at the children and their digimon, specifically TK and Tokomon.

+-9

Later that night, while all the children were asleep, a small team of Pagumon sneaked into the room where they were resting. Luckily for them, the children were sleeping in such an arrangement that their target was on the outskirts of the group. The approached slowly, suppressing the sound of malicious laughter as they went, till the six of them were positioned to overlook Tokomon. Without warning they grabbed the little pig thing and started to leave, quickly and quietly before anyone woke up.

"Hey," Lucy drawled, sitting up and pointing at the Pagumon. The procession nearly screamed in fright, thinking they had been caught. Then they noticed that her eyes were closed and she was already laying back down, "That's my last piece of jerky... give it back... Ogremon."

The Pagumon looked at each other, then at where the children were sleeping, "Humans can be scary," one whispered. The others nodded. They left then, before anything else could happen.

+-9

The next morning, a panicked cry of 'Tokomon!' woke most of the group up.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, almost leaping to her feet with her ejection from dreamland.

"Tokomon's gone!" TK said, tugging on Matt's pants, looking to be on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, TK," his older brother told him, "We'll find him. He probably just stepped outside for a little while."

The kids stepped out of the massive tent tower where they had slept, all of them calling the little digimon's name.

"Tokomon!" Biyomon called, searching from the air with Skymomon and Tentomon, "Where are you?"

"Tokomon!" TK called from the ground.

"We should organize this properly," Izzy said, "We'll draw a map of the area and cross off the areas we've already checked." He got down to it right away, drawing a well detailed map in the dirt of the surrounding area.

"We'll check the water fall," a group of Pagumon said, heading off in that direction, "You keep searching the village."

"Good idea," Tai said as he and the others ran around, sticking their heads into the huts. The digimon spread out into the forest looking for the little guy.

The search went on until nearly noon and still there was no sign of the missing digimon.

"Where are you?" TK asked sadly, hoping that his digimon hadn't run away.

"Where could he have gone?" Tai asked aloud as he stood one the roof of the tallest hut, looking around with his scope. Lucy was right behind him, scanning the forest with her eyes, trying to catch a hint of the little guy's colors among the trees.

"Tokomon, if you can hear me, say something!" Biyomon yelled out as she flew by.

Skymomon went in a different direction, "Scream if you're in trouble, Tokomon!"

"Well, looks like he's not in the south part of the village," Sora said as she Mimi and Joe congregated near Izzy who was crossing off places on his map.

"He's not in the village at all," Matt said as he came up to them crossing his arms.

"Can we hurry this up?" Mimi said, "I'm scheduled for a mud pack and a facial in half an hour."

"Tokomon should know better than to interrupt your beauty treatments," Gomamon teased.

"You're so right," the girl commented, thinking he was serious.

"Huh? He's being sarcastic," Joe pointed out, surprised that the girl didn't get it.

"What?" Mimi asked, her eyes widening as she realized that Gomamon, and maybe even the others, cared more about Tokomon than Mimi getting her treatments.

"He's not by the waterfall," the Pagumon told Izzy as they bounced back over.

"Alright, thanks," Izzy told the little guys, "this is bad."

"Where is he?" TK was almost crying at the thought of Tokomon out there, alone.

Of the digimon that had gone out into the forest to check around for the piglet digimon, Agumon was the only one that hadn't returned yet. It was beginning to worry Tai. He was beginning to wonder if whatever had gotten Tokomon had gotten his partner as well.

Back in the village, Izzy was trying to think logically of where the little digimon would be.

"Tokomon is really very small. He can't have gone too far," he said, trying to reassure himself as much as TK. The entire team owed the little guy their lives, what with how he'd defeated Devimon.

"Agumon's been gone a long time," Tai commented, taking the scope away from his eye for a moment, "I wonder if he found anything."

"Hopefully not trouble," Lucy commented. Skymomon landed next to her.

"I haven't been able to find anything at all, Lucy," the monkey held her head lowly.

"Don't worry, Skymomon," Lucy consoled him, "we'll find him."

"Huh? That's weird," Tai commented, looking through the scope.

"What do you see, Tai?" Matt asked.

"It's smoke, coming from the river," Tai pointed off into the distance.

"Maybe it's Agumon, He might have found Tokomon and is signaling us," Lucy suggested.

"It's Tokomon!" TK insisted.

"No, really, it's nothing," a Pagumon said, "We looked by the river and didn't see a thing."

"Didn't see a thing!" The rest of them repeated.

"It is possible that Tokomon moved into that area some time after you checked it," Izzy commented, the group standing up to go check.

"Let's check it out," Tai said, coming out of the large hut.

"No!" The Pagumon all panicked, "Don't do that!"

"Hey," Sora said, looking back at the little grey digimon, "What's the problem? We're just going to look around."

"Just take our word for it," one of them said, trying to get them to agree to give it up. Unfortunately for the Pagumon, something chose that moment to make Mimi scream. The kids and the digimon all turned to look.

"Ew! Ew! Ew!" Mimi panicked from the bench she was sitting on as a yellow eyed, black little digimon sat in her lap, "What is this thing?"

"That's a Botamon," Tentomon said helpfully.

"Why would there be a Botamon here?" Palmon asked.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"Botamon is the small egg form that Digivolves into Koromon and then into Agumon," Gabumon explained.

"Then the Pagumon lied to us!" Tai deduced, turning a glare on the little digimon.

"It's time for us to leave here, we really hate to go," they all began singing again as they hopped off, "We told you this was our place, now you know it isn't so!" They continued singing as they left.

"Hey!" Lucy called after them, "Darn it! They must have taken Tokomon!" She turned and looked off in the direction of the river, "They really didn't want us to go to the waterfall, right?"

"That's right," Sora said, "Maybe that's where they took Tokomon."

"Maybe we'll find the Koromon and Agumon there, too," Tentomon suggested.

Without anymore preamble the group made it's way towards the waterfall. The closer they got the more Tai could sear he heard a fight going on. They didn't see anything in the immediate area but the wild haired boy spotted a path leading behind the waterfall.

"Agumon!" He called, glaring at the two grey rabbit creatures attack his buddy two on one.

"Tai!" the yellow dinosaur called out in pain, "Help me!"

"Agumon, you've got to Digivolve!" Tai said.

"You got it!" He began to glow, and Tai's Digivice began to make the usual keening.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

The others watched from outside the cave behind the waterfall as Greymon appeared and split the falls with some rocks he push up in standing to his full height.

"So," he growled at the two digimon that were previously beating him up, "You Gazimon like to fight two on one, huh?" He took a deep breath, gathering the fire to his mouth, "_Nova Blast!_" He aimed it at the ground just in front of the grey rabbits, sending them flying into the water.

"Greymon did it!" Tai exclaimed. TK ran into the cave next, followed by the others very quickly. They did indeed find Tokomon and the Koromon in the cave there. The digimon broke the locks on all the cages and TK untied Tokomon.

"Tokomon," he said as he picked the little guy up, "I thought I lost you again."

"I'm like a boomerang. I keep coming back!" Tokomon said as he nuzzled TK.

The others stood before the amassed Koromon, stolen from their home by the Pagumon. Mimi had even brought the Botamon with her, after deciding it was actually kind of cute.

"The Pagumon are gone," Sora told them, "You can all return to your village now."

"Thank you!" The Koromon all cried at once.

Before any more good cheer could be spread, a sound like a microphone coming to close to a set of speakers filled the air followed by a deep voice with a southern accent.

"Uh, hello," it said.

The kids and the digimon turned to look out of the waterfall cave and saw a giant digimon standing over the treetops. He had a purple guitar, black sunglasses, and a mic in hand. He looked like a purson was wearing tan colored monkey pajamas.

"Oh, great," Joe sighed, "A digi-rock star."

"You measely, Digidestined humans, thank you very much, hello!" He said into the mic, his pinky finger raised to the sky.

"Oh no," Skymomon said, "It's Etemon."

"Etemon is a high level digimon with delusions of grandeur. His Dark Network allows him to control any kind of machinery!" Tentomon said.

"I think we found the next enemy we're supposed to fight," Lucy said, frowning up at the monkey.

"You little, bratty kids messed up all my big, beautiful plans! So now I'm gonna hafta punish y'all by playing a little number that I just wrote. It's called 'Wreckin' The Whole Place!'"

"'Wrecking The Whole Place'?" Tai questioned.

"Do you think he can actually do that?" Izzy asked.

"_Dark Network: Concert Crush!_" The earth rumbled for a moment as black lines lifted into the air from underground. Etemon laughed maniacally as he watched his attack take form. The line floated thirty feet into the air before red and black bolts started streaking down, blowing up anything they hit.

"Everyone, Digivolve, now!" Sora ordered after one struck the water, terribly close to where they were.

"Let's go!" Tai and Matt said together. Then Gabumon Digivolved to join Greymon.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!" The wolf and the dinosaur stood at the ready, waiting for an opening.

"Well, ya say ya want a Digivolution. Guess what. The answer's noooo!" Etemon strummed his guitar and sang the final word, "_Dark Network: Concert Crush!_ Ahuhuh! Ahuhuh!" he began laughing loudly again.

Greymon and Garurumon roared as they felt their energy being drained then quickly returned to their smaller forms.

"Dark Network! Yeah, darlin'! Gotcha!" Etemon gloated.

"Something strange is going on!" Tai exclaimed.

The evil digimon began to play his guitar, surprisingly well, and more bolts of black and red electricity started exploding all around the forest.

"Concert Crush took our power," Agumon told the children.

"Does Rock and Roll have that affect in your world?" Tentomon asked.

"Only on our parents," Sora told the bug.

"So there's no way for us to fight this monster?" Izzy asked.

"As we are, no," the bug said simply.

"If only we could Digivolve once more," Skymomon said, "Then I'd show him the meaning of a stage dive!"

"Once more, huh?" Lucy said, looking at her partner.

"That must be what Gennai was referring to when he told us about the Crests and the Tags!" Sora said, realizing now exactly how this all worked.

"I think it's just a little late for now, Sora," Joe said. He was right, there was nothing they could do at this point. If they ran out there with Etemon's attack still going, they'd be blown to smithereens.

One of the bolts slammed into the water fall causing a cave in. Etemon saw the whole thing and couldn't stop his maniacal laughing. Inside the cave, the digimon and the kids ran deeper, hoping to avoid falling debris, or more of Etemon's attacks. After nearly two hundred feet they came to a dead end. On the wall in front of them there was a humongous glyphic sun, etched into the stone. It had eight points, one for each direction, north, south, east and west, then another four for the points in bretween.

"What's this?" Tai asked, wondering if it had any meaning.

"This is a safe place where we hide when anything bad happens to our village," One of the Koromon said, looking at the wall with the sun on it in reverence.

"What do we do now?" Tai asked. It was nice that this place had a history, but that wouldn't help them.

As if in answer to Tai's question, his Tag began to glow underneath his shirt. Soon after the walls of the cave began to glow as well, turning bright orange. The kids gasped, wondering what was going on, hoping it wasn't Etemon's doing.

Tai pulled his Tag from inside his shirt and the wall with the glyphic sun began to shrink. The open tunnel behind them was closed off by another glowing orange wall. After a few seconds the sun was small enough to fit on the end of one finger.

"I think I know what this is," Tai said, looking at the little orange thing hovering in front of him.

"Okay," Matt said, "I give, what do you think it is?"

"A Crest!" Tai exclaimed as the little thing flew through the air and slid itself into the Tag around Tai's neck.

"A Crest?" Sora intoned.

"You mean we found one?" Lucy asked, "Just like that?"

"Exactly!" Tai said with a grin, "Now we've got a Crest!"

"How awesome!" Matt said, pumping his fist in celebration.

"Look!" Sora said, pointing forward. The walls of the cave had stopped glowing, returning to regular stone, and it revealed to the children and their digimon a rather panoramic view of another forest, this one undamaged by Etemon's Concert Crush, and large mountains.

"Didn't this used to be a wall?" Joe asked, not quite believing his eyes.

"Yeah," The lead Koromon said, "But the Crest must have brought us here. These mountains are a long way from our village."

"Alright!" Joe said, "Frequent Flier miles." Lucy grinned at the older boy. If she didn't know any better, she'd say he was getting used to being in this world.

"I wonder if this is going to happen every time we find a Crest," Lucy pondered.

"I don't know, but now that we've got one, it'll be a cinch to defeat Etemon and do anything we want!" Tai said, staring at the crest. He clutched it in his fist and looked up, out into the forest, "You know, guys, I think this is the first step on our trip home!" The other kids grinned and stepped out into the forest, not sure where to go next, but certain that they would find their way.

None of them noticed a black wire, racing with red electricity.

Chapter Twelve: End.

Please Enjoy.


	13. Chapter 13 The Arrival of Skullgreymon

Chapter Thirteen: The Arrival of Skullgreymon

Lucy had dreams sometimes where she was being chased by something. It was dark, evil. She knew that it wanted her gone. In her dreams, the monster, whatever it was, would chase her throughout Tokyo, shrouded in a fiery shadow. It was so large that it's foot steps would cause the very earth to quake. She'd had these dreams since a very young age and she suspected they were why she was afraid of earth quakes.

During the night it took them to cross the mountains and leave the valley, she'd had another dream like that. The monster was chasing her through the Digiworld this time, but the specifics about the chase were the same. It was large, it was covered in fiery shadow, and it was chasing her with the intent to severely ruin her day. There was something else different that she almost didn't want to believe she saw.

Bones. She saw bones coming from it's back. Large ones, six of them, spiked at the end. It almost looked like they were fanned out to intimidate her even further.

It stomped forward as usual, the only difference being that the shaking ground was accompanied by the rattle of the bones on its back quivering. It added an eery atmosphere that only grew more intense with each passing moment. The monster stomped its way closer than ever while she ran through an endless desert. She knew it was only a matter of time before it caught her, she simply couldn't run forever. The creature knew that too. It's roar of success made the air pulse and the girl had to cover her ears to keep from going deaf.

She still ran though. She'd never stop, not until it actually caught her. Her legs hurt, her lungs burned, her veins felt like they were pumping acid. She was half blind from the sand kicked up in her eyes and she was beginning to wheeze. But she couldn't let her pace slow a single step. The monster was close enough that she could smell its rancid breath already.

Then she tripped over a black wire, right there in the middle of the desert, half hidden by the sands.

The monster was before her in an instant, reaching for her with one shadow fire claw. It closed around her and she began to burn. It lifted her high into the air, nearly two hundred feet before she was even at the right height to be placed in its mouth. Time slowed down as she approached the jaws. All that she could see now was the endless darkness of the beasts stomach. All she could feel was the otherworldly burn of the dark fire.

Naturally, she screamed.

"_Lucy..._" The beast called her name as the world shook, "_Lucy...!_" the bone deep rumble of its voice began to warble, becoming higher, more feminine, "_Lucy! Somebody do something! She isn't reacting! Lucy!_" right towards the end there it actually sounded like Sora. That was a little odd.

Lucy belatedly realized that her eyes were closed. She could understand it, after all she didn't really want to see where she was going in the abyss once the monster swallowed her, but a morbid curiosity filled her and she had to open her eyes. She'd already screamed herself out, and the burning had reached a point where it was no longer painful, just a deceptive, delightful warmth.

One green eye squinted open.

The girl was pleasantly surprised to see not the gaping maw of the beast, waiting to devour her, but the worried faces of Sora, Joe, Matt, and Tai. Her other eye opened in surprise.

"G-"She tried to speak for a moment, started coughing, then tried again, "Guys?" The sound was rough, completely different from her own voice. It hurt. Why did it hurt?

"Lucy!" Sora exclaimed, "Thank goodness!" The older girl sat back, a relieved look on her face as she sat there for a second before leaning forward again, "Don't ever scare us like that again!" She forcefully pulled the girl into a hug.

"Wh-" Lucy stopped, feeling her throat reject the sound again, but stopped herself from coughing on the girl, "what happened?" her voice sounded like she was Leomon's daughter or something with the constant growl. She wondered if it hurt for him to talk too.

"You tell us," Tai said, "You just started screaming and thrashing around about an hour ago."

"Yeah," Matt said, "At first we thought you were being attacked by something. Skymomon tried to hold you down, but she was having trouble so we helped while Sora tried to wake you up."

She tried to speak again after Sora let her go, but ended up coughing again. Joe handed her a bottled water and she felt something warm crawl into her lap. She looked down and saw Skymomon, her large, sky blue eyes staring up at her with tears in the corner.

"Are you going to be alright, Lucy?" the little monkey asked.

Lucy tried to speak for a moment, but Joe stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You should drink that first," he told her, "Slowly. Your voice cut out a little while ago, but it still looked like you were screaming. You might have hurt your vocal chords."

Lucy nodded to him, then took a small sip from the bottle of water. It stung going down, and the others could tell from the grimace on her face. She still forced it down, along with another sip or two.

"I'll be f-herk!" she coughed a bit more, "fine," she told her partner, "It was just a bad, nn, terrifying, gck, horrifying nightmare, gah, of epic pro-grch!" she tried to suppress the coughing, but eventually just let out a torrent of hacking coughs, "proportions."

"That must have been some nightmare," Joe said, standing back for the others to come over.

"Are you gonna be okay, Lucy?" TK asked as he came over, holding Tokomon.

"I'll," She cleared her throat instead of coughing this time, "be fine. Just give me a little time," Her voice was still growly and her throat still hurt, but it was getting easier to talk without coughing up a lung by the minute. She took a page from the little boy's book, taking her digimon into her arms and nuzzling her. The warmth in her chest had never felt further away than in that dream, and just being near Skymomon was bringing it back into focus.

"What was it about?" Mimi asked after a few seconds.

"I was being chased," she cleared her throat again, "by a giant monster."

"It must have been a real creep," Mimi said, "I've never screamed like that before."

Lucy just nodded. She couldn't adequately explain the dream, even if she could talk properly at the moment.

"Okay," Joe said, surprising amount of authority in his voice, "That's it for questions for now. The best thing for Lucy's throat right now is to avoid talking for a few hours, maybe even the rest of the day," he turned to the girl in question, "Just keep sipping on that water and try not to suppress any more coughing fits. It could damage your vocal chords further."

The girl gave him a thumbs up.

"Okay, now that that is dealt with, I think we should get moving," Tai said, sounding a little impatient with it all, "Who knows when Etemon might track us all down again? We need to be gone before he gets here."

"I concur," Izzy said, standing up and closing his laptop, "I believe that there is a chance to find more of our crests in the same way we found Tai's. It would make sense to have hidden the Crests as large slabs of stone like that. If the Crests were loose in the size that allowed them to fit in our Tags, they would be much easier for the enemy to find."

"So, big slabs of stone with random symbols. Got it," Joe said, "Let's get going, we can eat while we walk."

Lucy stood up, with a little help from Sora and Matt, not wanting to let go of the little monkey that had become her best friend and life line. Without Skymomon, Lucy would undoubtedly still be trembling in fear from the horrible nightmare she'd just had.

She shivered just thinking about it. She felt her digimon grip her arms, letting her know that she was still there. She smiled a little.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Anytime, Lucy," the monkey whispered back.

The group began walking forward and Lucy stayed near the middle. Sora stayed by her side, just to make sure she was okay. The older girl had never seen someone have a nightmare that scared them so much they'd scream until their throat hurt. She was beginning to wonder what would cause such a reaction. She hoped she'd never have to find out.

+-9

Hours later, the group had left behind the forest and mountains long behind them, now trudging their way through yet another desert. The sun was as harsh as it had ever been, and the slight wind only seemed to scorch them more. If that wasn't enough, Tai was driving them forward despite complaints, real ones like the worry over how large the desert was and whether or not they would have enough water to make the trip. He just didn't... It seemed like he didn't care.

"Oh, how long do we have to keep walking?" Mimi whined from somewhere near the back of the group. Palmon was right next to her friend as usual, her flower beginning to wilt under the intense heat.

"Until Etemon can't follow us anymore," Joe said. Gomamon didn't look like he was doing any better than the plant digimon. He was panting with his tongue hanging out and his eyes were drooping. The sea was definitely more friendly to him.

"I don't think there is such a place," the girl said.

"We certain can't stop here in the middle of nowhere," Matt said, "For one thing, if we were attacked, there would be no place for us to run to." Gabumon was straining under the eat just like Gomamon and Palmon. His fur coat wasn't making it any easier to endure the heat, but he was far to shy to remove it and show his friends what he looked like naked.

'_This is starting to look bad._' Sora thought, '_Everyone is becoming timid and afraid. And I don't think Lucy's dream helped to boost our confidence any._' Sora noticed that the group was slowly coming to a halt. Even the pink haired girl to her right was losing momentum. Normally, the younger girl wouldn't slow up unless the older kids did. She was trying to prove that she could handle it, Sora thought, but even she was reaching her limit in this desert.

"Hey," Tai said, turning around and seeing the others resting in the sands, "Why'd we stop? Why's everyone so scared?" He frowned at them all disapprovingly as he reached into his shirt and pulled out his Tag and Crest, "After all, we do have the Crest, you know?"

Matt was standing next to TK, "That's true, but do we really know the Crest will help Agumon do Digivolve?"

"Of course," Tai said before turning to his partner, "Right, Agumon?"

The yellow dinosaur looked up at his friend, a look on his face that said he was unsure.

"Listen, buddy, this is your big chance," Tai said, "Don't let me down. You're the only one that can Digivolve further! So either you try to get to the next level and save us from Etemon, or I'll go get myself a new digimon!" Agumon made a high pitched whine. It reminded some of them of a wounded dog. And the look in his eyes only confirmed it. Agumon wanted so desperately to live up to Tai's expectations, but it wasn't looking like it was going to happen anytime soon.

"That's not much of a choice," Tentomon said, feeling sorry for the dino digimon.

"Arg," Tai grunted, turning to face the group again, "By the way, how are we supposed to use the Crests to Digivolve again?"

"Well," Izzy began, "from what we've seen so far, with the other Digivolutions, we know it takes a lot of energy," the boy was quickly breaking down all the finer points that he'd observed of the process, "For example: They can't Digivolve if they're hungry. In addition, the partner of the digimon in question must be in some sort of danger. You know, like being under attack or something."

Tai crossed his arms as he listened to all this, "Yeah, but since it's a higher level of Digivolving, my theory is that even more energy is needed. We'll provide the food, Etemon will provide the danger," he sent an encouraging wink to the yellow dinosaur at his side. Agumon didn't feel to encouraged. "Now come on," Tai said to the rest of the group, "I think I saw an oasis up ahead. We can rest and have lunch there."

The group groaned a little as some of them stood up, but for the most part they were eager for this mysterious oasis. Hopefully it would have one of those legendarily clear ponds.

It took them a while, but Tai hadn't been lying. It was a beautiful little fresh water spring in the middle of the desert. It had a few palm trees with nice big leaves to provide shade and the water was a clear crystal blue.

"Great!" Joe said, reaching into his bag to grab the food the Koromon had helped them, "Let's eat!" He started to spread the food out evenly, but Tai came by in a practical storm, taking every morsel he could get his hands on, "Hey!"

"Agumon needs this," he said simply, taking the pile of food over to his partner. He'd even taken the food away from TK, Izzy and Lucy. He dropped it right there in the sand next to Agumon, "Come on, Agumon, you have to eat!"

"But Tai, the others-" He was interrupted by the human boy stuffing the digimon's mouth with a fruit.

"Don't talk, eat!" Tai commanded, shoving another morsel of food in the dinosaurs mouth. Agumon was forced to chew or choke, so he chose to chew. He sent an apologetic look up to the others.

After ten minutes, Agumon was so full his belly was actually distended and he still had a mouth full of food, his cheeks distending from how much Tai had shoved in his mouth.

"N'more," the dinosaur mumbled around the food in his mouth.

"Just one more, teensy bit," Tai said, coming towards Agumon with a whole apple. The digimon tried to resist, but the boy forced it in, "Ready for the second course?" he asked, not even waiting for him to chew what he had in his mouth. Agumon just leaned back, holding his distended belly with on paw in pain. "Oh, stop your belly aching!" the wild haired leader demanded, "Open wide, you've gotta keep on eating! Listen, everyone's given you their food so you can Digivolve! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah..." Matt said uncertainly.

"We didn't give him our food, he took it from us!" Mimi said, softly though trying not to draw Tai's ire, "Of all the nerve!"

"Well, the food wont do us any good," Gabumon tried to reason even as he looked at the pile of good stuff before Agumon, "we still can't Digivolve."

"So those of us who don't work, don't eat, huh?" Joe said lowly. He couldn't believe Tai was doing this.

"But I'm hungry!" Tentomon complained.

"Hey!" Tai shouted back to the kids and their digimon, "I can't hear you! I said is that right!?"

Lucy nodded her head, while the others gave their agreements vocally. Once he turned back to face Agumon, Lucy frowned. If she could speak without it hurting, she could tell the others what she thought. As it was, she'd have to go for the charades version. She took a sip of her water then tugged on Sora's arm.

"What is it, Lucy?" She asked softly. The pink haired girl twirled one finger around her ear then pointed at Tai and did it again, "You think Tai's gone crazy?"

"Yes," Izzy said, watching the disgusting spectacle of Tai forcing his digimon to eat yet more food, "Tai's personality seems to have taken a turn for the worse. I remember him being friendlier, even to us younger kids." Lucy nodded.

"Actually, now that you mention it," Sora began, "He was cool during Soccer Camp. We were playing a game and he and I were on the same team. I asked him to pass me the ball. It looked like he ignored me at first, and I would almost say he was going to go for the goal himself. In the end, he kicked the ball up just as one of the other team members was about to steal it. He knew I was there and I could make the goal," she watched him for a moment down at the bottom of the hill, "Tai might look like he's trying to run things all by himself, but whatever crazy action he takes, he does it for the good of the team."

"Mm-hm," Izzy hummed.

"But now all this," the red headed girl said as Tai shoved another morsel of food into Agumon.

"We're the only ones who can help now!" the boy said, "So, you've gotta keep eating, okay, Agumon?"

The dinosaur finally collapsed to his back, "I can't," he groaned. He looked, and certainly felt, like he would explode if he ate another bite.

"Tai's personality seems to have changed ever since he got a hold of that Crest of Courage," Sora said finally.

"Boy, I'm hungry," Joe sighed as he sat there with his eyes closed in contemplation. Suddenly he felt a warm on his chest," Hmm?" he reached into his shirt and pulled out his Tag. It was glowing with a blue light, "Hey, guys!" he called attention to himself and his glowing pendant, "My tag is glowing!"

"It must be reacting to something," Matt deduced.

"The Crest must be nearby," Izzy commented.

"You think so?" Tai asked, scanning the horizon for a moment for any clue where it might be, "Hey, look!" He put his telescope to his eye, looking off in one direction in particular to get a clearer view, "I see a building!"

Joe started running towards it, "Maybe that's where my Crest is!" He started down the side of a dune. A second later, the tall boy wound up on his face, his foot catching on something. Gomamon was right behind him, and grabbed what had tripped the boy up.

"What's a cable doing out in the middle of nowhere?" the little guy asked, looking at the large, black cable that had caught Joe's foot.

Up at the top of the dune, Lucy's eyes were wide in fright and she was holding Skymomon close.

"What is it, Lucy?" The little monkey asked.

"My... nightmare," she whispered in her harsh tone for the moment.

"That black cable," Skymomon said, looking back down the hill, "that was in your nightmare, wasn't it?" Lucy nodded, the fear visible in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter what it is or what it's doing here," Tai said insistently, "What matters is finding the next Crest! Come on, everybody!" He lead a determined march past Joe, not even offering to help the boy up as he moved towards the building he saw off in the distance.

Sora sighed, "I hope Tai get's back to normal soon. I'm afraid he's gonna get himself or Agumon hurt, going on like this."

"I believe you are correct. Tai's not only become more hostile, it seems he's more reckless than ever before," Izzy told the girl.

"Come on," Matt said, "We better catch up before he yells at us again."

Lucy moved down the hill next to Sora and Izzy. She was extra careful to avoid the cable. She made sure not to touch it or even let it near her. She didn't know what it was, but she made sure to remember where it was. In her dream it had tripped her up, allowing the monster to catch her. She wouldn't let that happen if she could help it.

+-9

As the kids approached, they couldn't help but marvel at the familiar architecture around them. It looked roman. From the pillars, to the archways, to the statues, to the giant coliseum before them. It almost looked like some comic book villain had stolen it out of their world and dropped it off here.

"This place is so similar to the Roman Coliseum," Izzy marveled, "It's rather astounding, the level of detail."

"What is the Roman Coliseum?" Tentomon asked.

"Well, Tentomon, it's an ancient arena," Tai said.

"But the ancient one didn't have a big screen," Mimi pointed to a truly massive TV screen.

"Or soccer goals," Sora added, pointing out the other addition to this otherworldly rendition of the ancient landmark.

"Okay, guys," Tai said, "Let's all split up and look for the Crest!" Agumon chose that moment to collapse onto his rear, "What's wrong?"

"I can't move anymore," the yellow digimon said, "Let me rest for a little bit," he rolled over, closing his eyes and trying to sleep off his stomach ache from eating so much.

"Come on!" Tai ordered, "Get up! You can do it!"

"I can't!" Agumon insisted.

"Give him a rest, Tai," Joe finally said, "the only clue we have to the Crest is my Tag," he pulled it out of his shirt again to show the boy the pulsing glow, "So, Gomamon and I will search for it while you guys rest for a while. Later!" He ran off, holding his Tag before him, hoping it would glow brighter, the closer they got to the Crest.

Tai frowned, not liking that he couldn't do anything at the moment, and sent a glare at Agumon, who was groaning a bit from discomfort. Inside him, he felt guilty for what he was doing to Agumon, but it had to be done. If Etemon showed up, he was the only one with the capability to Digivolve to the next level. He was the only one that could keep them safe. If he had to push harder than he'd ever pushed before, that's exactly what he'd do. They had to stay safe, no matter what.

"Hey look!" Sora said, her mood brightening, "A soccer ball," she stepped over to the ball, "Anyone up for a game?"

"Yeah!" TK said, "That sounds fun!"

"That's a great idea!" Matt agreed, "The human team will play against the digimon team."

"What on earth is soccer?" Tentomon asked, buzzing through the air.

"It's easy," Sora said with a smile as she stood with one foot on the black and white ball, "You use your feet to get this ball into the goal. You can also use your chest or your head," She demonstrated this with a quick, flick of her foot to send the ball up vertically, then hit it with her helmeted forehead.

Gabumon ran forward, a grin on his face, "Here I Go!" he called out, kicking the ball. It flew high through the air and hit Biyomon on the head then bounced over to Palmon who caught it.

"That's really using your head," the plant digimon said to the fallen bird digimon.

Sora laughed a little at the display, "I Guess I forgot to mention it, but you can't use your hands."

"Unless you're the goal keeper," TK added, "Then you can touch the ball with your hands."

"Yeah, you should be the goalie for your team, Palmon," Matt told the flower headed digimon.

Palmon just smiled as she pulled the ball back, "Here!" She threw it rather well.

Mimi smiled openly as the ball came in her direction. Unfortunately it passed her by completely and rolled towards the edge of the playing area.

Unfortunately, Tai was there. He dashed forward and kicked the ball.

Lucy's eyes widened when she heard the sound it made as his foot connected with the ball. It sounded like a small cannon! Anyone in the way of that was going down. Luckily for them, Tai had kicked the ball on a high arch, sending it somewhere into the stands of the coliseum.

"I can't believe you're playing soccer at a time like this!" Tai nearly shouted at the others, "Will you use your heads for something other than hitting the ball? The sooner we Joe finds the crest, the sooner we can leave!" The kids bowed their heads, feeling ashamed now. Why were they even trying to play a game in the first place? It would have only made an opening for Etemon to attack them anyway.

Lucy nearly glared at Tai. She held it back though. He was probably just trying to be safe. But did he have to be such a big jerk about it? She moved off to go find the ball. Tai may have thought it was dumb, but the others needed this right now.

As the girl moved into the stands to find the ball, Joe's tag began to glow and make a shrill noise as he moved towards one of the goals.

"Joe, your Tag is reacting again," Gomamon pointed out to his partner.

"Yeah, the crest must be around here somewhere," he mumbled. The others, still feeling a little ashamed of themselves, moved to see what Joe was talking about. The entire group minus Lucy, Skymomon and Agumon stood next to Joe, inside the goal.

A brief sound of static came from the giant screen behind them, and they heard a familiar laugh. On the screen there appeared to be a pair of giant clapping hands for a moment.

"Who's the king?" Etemon demanded a moment later when he appeared on the screen, speaking into his microphone again.

"He's here!" Mimi cried, hiding behind the boys, "Etemon's here!"

Agumon saw this as well and tried to run to his friends. He only made a few steps before he fell down again.

"Agumon!" Tai called out starting to move forward. He was stopped though when the goal slammed down in front of him, trapping him and the rest of the kids and digimon inside it.

"Goal!" Etemon shouted, a giant soccer ball appearing on the screen for a moment, "I sure did it! I scored a goal!"

"The whole thing was a trap!" Tai realized.

"Does he really think he can trap us with a simple ne-yowch!" Tentomon began to say before he flew into the net only to end up being the recipient of a painful amount of electricity. He was knocked back into Tai's chest with enough force to send the boy tumbling backwards into the other children.

"Now, now, listen up," Etemon said, "if you do that, you might get hurt. You see, there's electricity runnin' through that net. It's a shocker, I know," He grinned maliciously at the kids, looking at them through his dark sun glasses, "I really wanted to be there in person, but I'm way too busy. You know how us Rock and Roll legends are. But don't worry, the act subtitutin' for me is a very rare treat," his evil grin grew wider, "Let's see if you can put your puny little heads together and figure out who our special guest star is."

Tai glared up at the screen, "How would we know who it is!?" he yelled.

"I'm sure you'd all be surprised!" a growling started to sound from the opposite end of the arena, "Here he comes!" A large figure stepped into view and it was almost horrifyingly familiar. It was another Greymon. The only difference was the black, spiked collar around his neck. He kicked the brick wall in front of him, easily breaking through it and stepped into the arena.

"It's another Greymon," Tai yelled out, shocked. The dinosaur digimon stepped forward and roared.

"I knew you'd be surprised," Etemon said, "Aw, I'm so evil. Let's get started, it's time to go. Here's the show!" The wild Greymon stomped forward, to the empty goal on the opposite side of the arena from the children. He smashed the net into the ground, then roared loudly at the children.

"It's time to Digivolve," Tai shouted. His Digivice reacted to his desire. The light of Digivolution struck Agumon, who was trapped outside away from the children.

Lucy, up in the stands was watching all this with fear. She felt a chill creeping into her chest as she watched Agumon change into Greymon. She could still see his stomach pushed out more than normal by the food he'd been force fed. The other Greymon looked more than ready to go while the one on their side looked still tired.

"Lucy!" Skymomon said, trying to get her partners attention, "Lucy, we have to do something. We have to help them!"

Lucy was frozen, her body refusing to move at all. The cold feeling was coming back, stronger than ever.

Greymon was able to start off the fight rather well, getting the wild Greymon in a lock, but he wrestled his way out. Tai's digimon then slammed his head into the wild digimon, making him flinch for a moment. The other dinosaur replied with his own attack though, twisting to the left and whipping his tail into the friendly digimon's side.

"You can do it, Greymon!" Gabumon shouted his support.

"Don't lose to that phoney bologna!" TK said next.

The enemy Greymon quickly took the opening his previous attack had caused and rushed Tai's Greymon. He slammed into him head first, sending the good digimon flying into the electric net, shocking him continuously for a few minutes before he was hurtled off the net and onto his stomach from the force of the current.

"Greymon!" Tai yelled, "You've got to Digivolve!"

The dinosaur digimon just groaned in pain as he lay there for a few more seconds, before fighting his way to his feet.

"This is not good," Izzy commented lowly.

"We're done for if he can't Digivolve!" Tentomon quailed. The wild Greymon just laughed mockingly. If this was the best those Digidestined had, nothing would stop Etemon.

"Digivolve, Greymon, you've got to!" the wild haired leader of the group demanded. Greymon stood to his full height, determined to make Tai proud of him. He growled at the other digimon menacingly before he lowered his head and charged.

Unfortunately, the other Greymon caught him by the horns and threw him to the ground. Once there, it began to stomp on his head repeatedly.

"What's he waiting for? Why wont he Digivolve to the next level?" Tai stood forward, clenching his fists angrily.

"It's not working, Tai, the Crest isn't reacting at all," Izzy said, watching the pendant around Tai's neck, "Maybe you gave him too much to eat."

"Maybe he can't Digivolve," Matt suspected next.

"Of course he can!" Tai snapped, "Come on, Greymon! You can do it! Believe in your power and you can Digivolve!"

Greymon tried listening to his partner but it was hard, all but impossible, with the other dinosaur digimon stomping on his head. Finally, Greymon had enough of being stepped on, he whipped his tail around, hitting the wild one in the stomach and knocking him away.

"Way to go!" Tai said.

"You guys!" A voice from the back of the cage said, "Something's wrong with Lucy, she wont move. It's like she's frozen!" Sora turned around to see Skymomon, standing a few inches outside of the net.

"What? What happened? Where is she?" The red headed girl asked. Skymomon pointed up into the stands. To the left of the arena, Lucy stood watching the battle. In her fear her eyes had become the size of pin pricks and she looked to be about to hyperventilate.

Back in the battle with the two Greymon, Tai's digimon took a deep breath to gather his fire, "_Nova Blast!_" Instead of a fireball however, all that came out of the dino's mouth was a loud belch.

"Ew!" Mimi gagged, "He certainly doesn't have any digi-manners. At least say 'excuse me.'"

"Am I imagining it, or is he moving a lot slower than usual?" Matt asked, turning away from Skymomon when he heard the belch.

"He's eaten way too much, so his reflexes are sluggish," Izzy theorized.

"You're right, Izzy," Tentomon said, he was about to take wing before Joe called over.

"Hey, help me lift these tiles. If there's dirt under these things, we can dig our way out!" He and Gomamon lifted one, while Sora and Biyomon started on another.

Matt, Izzy, and TK moved to help him with their digimon.

Back in the arena, Etemon's Greymon had knocked Tai's over again and was dragging him around by his tail.

"Get up and fight!" Tai ordered angrily.

The wild digimon took a firm hold of the other one by his tail and began to swing him around and around by his tail. He let him go after a few goes around. Sending him flying into the stands on the opposite side of the arena from Lucy.

"It's lookin' like this is gonna be over sooner than I thought!" Etemon laughed.

The Greymon followed Greymon into the stands, ready to beat up on him some more.

"Whoa," Joe said, looking at a slab of rock underneath the large tiles they'd moved aside, "Look, my Tag is glowing again," He looked at the slab that the kids were all standing on, there was an odd symbol on it. It looked like a medical cross, with another point coming out of each juncture towards the center, "You don't suppose..." He trailed off, taking his Tag from his neck and placing it against the slab.

The rock with the symbol glowed the same color as the Tag before it suddenly dropped the children and the digimon down into the hole beneath. It was fifteen feet deep and about half way down there was a tunnel leading out. While the kids groaned from landing in a tangled mess, the black crest that had come from the stone slab slid into Tag in Joe's hand.

"Look," Tentomon said, "An escape tunnel."

"Let's use it to get out of here!" Sora said, Climbing up and then holding out her hand for the others. It didn't take long for the kids and digimon find their way into the stands behind the goal they'd been trapped in. The enemy Greymon had theirs in a headlock and was dragging him around the arena to smash his head into one of the walls. When that wall broke, he threw the sluggish Greymon into the center of the arena. A deep chuckle was on the digimon's lips as he approached. He'd been told this Greymon had taken out other digimon back on File Island, strong digimon. If this was how he fought then it was obviously an exaggerated rumor.

"Greymon!" Tai shouted, "You could win if you'd only Digivolve! Greymon!"

The large orange dinosaur that Tai's partner had turned into heard the boys yell and turned to look at him. The wild haired boy had jumped onto the wall, preparing to run into the arena and put himself in danger.

"Tai, don't!" Sora tried to stop him, grabbing on to his shirt.

"Don't stop me!" he snapped at her, "This is my chance to make him Digivolve to the next level! Please mind your own business, Sora!"

"But Tai, without a reaction from the Crest, there's no way for him _to _Digivolve," she tried to reason with him.

"I can make him do it! Watch!" He jumped out of the stands and ran towards the fighting Greymon.

"What do you think he's gonna do?" Matt asked.

"The other condition for Digivolving is their partner must be in danger," Izzy explained as Tai approached the enemy Greymon from behind.

"He wouldn't," Sora gasped.

"We have to get Lucy!" Skymomon pleaded over everything else, "If that fight spills any further into the arena, she might get hurt in the collateral damage."

"I'll go," Joe said, "C'mon, Gomamon," he started running towards the girl who was still just staring horrified at the fighting digimon. He was followed by Skymomon and Gomamon.

"Go ahead, finish him off with your Nova Blast!" Etemon ordered his Greymon. Before the dinosaur digimon could do it, a rock hit him in the back of the skull.

It growled angrily and turned to look back at what had thrown the rock, only to find Tai standing there, holding another one.

"Come on!" Tai shouted, throwing the rock up and down in his hands, "I'm not afraid of you!" The Greymon began to stomp forward. Intending to end the child for interfering in his fight.

"Aw man!" Matt groaned, "He's really doing it. Gabumon, You've got to get in there and help him!"

"You too, Biyomon," Sora said, turning to her partner.

The Two digimon nodded and jumped forward, glowing and growing into their larger and more powerful forms. Garurumon ran up beside Tai, while Birdramon was in the air above him, the two of them were ready to jump into action the moment the dinosaur digimon made a single motion to attack Tai.

"Greymon! I believe in you! You can do it! Digivolve!" The boy shouted one last time before his crest finally reacted. It glowed bright orange for a moment before it was over taken by a darkness that obscured the Crest in it's entirety. Light from the digivice shot up and was filtered throughth black grest until it created, not a black cloud, but a blood red one. Instead of a rain bow coming down and changing Greymon, it was ten black pillars of energy surrounded by spiraling flame that came down to land all around Greymon. His body darkened to a sickley blue before it seemed he cought fire from the pillars. It obscured the view of the digimon as it grew taller, bigger, more powerful.

Joe had reached Lucy by this point who looked to be on the verge of a breakdown, her eyes wide open, her hands held on the sides of her face while her entire body trembled. Tears poured freely from the corners of her eyes, and she couldn't help but stare at what the children would come to call the dark Digivolution of Greymon.

The flames cleared away slowly, first showing six, large spikes made of bone fanning out down it's back. The flames pulled away from the monster showing it to be a humongous dinosaur skeleton. It had an orange shark on it's back, glowing blue eyes, and a red hunk of flesh in it's chest that might have been a heart.

"Oh no," Tentomon quailed, "Tell me that's not what I think it is!"

"What is it?" Izzy asked.

"It's Skullgreymon. A fully evolved digimon, Skullgreymon is a raging berserker who's only goal in life is to fight strong opponents."

"Lucy," Joe said, Grabbing onto the girl's hoodie, "We have to get out of here before we get hurt!"

Lucy stared at the monster straight out of her nightmares for a few more seconds, taking in gasping breaths as she started to hyperventilate from the pure unadulterated fear.

Then she screamed.

The high pitched wail of absolute terror left her throat with such force that Joe was almost knocked off his feet from surprise. Gomamon, Skymomon and the other digimon were covering their ears in pain as the shrill shout echoed around the arena. The resonance of it was so high that the big screen that Etemon was on cracked. The Digidestined all stopped and stared as Lucy screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

Skullgreymon swiveled his head to look in the direction of the sonic disruption and he growled at Lucy, stepping towards her. The odd sound of air passing through bone instead of flesh to create the growl was eerie and might have frightened the children more if their friend wasn't using up her entire oxygen supply to deafen everyone and everything in the area.

The enemy Greymon ended up saving the girl's life, if inadvertently, when he attacked the skeletal monster. He rushed forward, grabbing the monster's leg, and sank his teeth into the bone of the shin. Well, he tried to. The bones were too hard for him to crunch.

Skullgreymon looked down at the little annoyance trying to chew on him and bat him aside with one bony claw. The Greymon flew through the air and hit the giant screen. The shark on Skullgreymon's back was launched like a missile, deleting both the enemy Greymon and the giant screen at the same time.

By this point, Lucy had run out of air. Her eyes rolled backwards in her head and she fell forward. Luckily Joe was there to catch her before she hit the stone face first.

"What's happened to him?" Tai breathed, looking at what his partner had become. The monster glared off in the distance, as if sensing strong opponents, "Listen!" Tai shouted at the giant digimon, "If you really are my partner, just calm down! You've won!"

"Tai, no!" Matt called, trying to warn the boy away from getting that monstrosity's attention.

"Don't worry, if Greymon is really in there then he can't hurt me!" Tai called back.

The monster turned to look at Tai. Nothing of Greymon was in those glowing blue eyes. All that was there was blood lust and a desire for more powerful opponents. He stepped forward trying to stomp on the boy. Tai was quick though, diving out of the way.

Garurumon leapt forward then, trying to latch onto the monster his friend had become. He was knocked aside like a fly. Birdramon tried next, lashing at it with her claws, but the bony tail whipped her out of the air. Tai kept running, realizing that some mistake was made. And he knew who's mistake it was.

"Leave it to me!" Tentomon said as he flew up high into the air. He glowed like the others and Digivolved into Kabuterimon. It wouldn't help.

The three Digivolved digimon decided to try their special attacks. They gathered the necessary power and let loose.

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Howling Blaster!_"

"_Electro Shocker!_"

The three attacks hit simultaneously, but the monster didn't even flinch. Quick as a flash, he knocked the bird and bug digimon out of the sky, and knocked the wolf to the side. He then ran at the Digidestined themselves.

Tai and the others split up, running out of his path just in time to avoid being stepped on. Luckily, Skullgreymon had no interest in them, he crossed the stadium in a couple of steps and began to run out into the desert. He ran for a few good seconds, his bones rattling with each step until suddenly he paused.

"What's going on?" Tai asked as the group gathered at the top of the stadium wall.

"He's losing his energy, look!" Izzy said. Black and green smoke was drifting up from the ground that Skullgreymon was standing on and his form began to glow yellow and grow smaller.

"Oh, man," Tai breathed before he turned and ran down the side of the stadium and quickly found an exit, "Agumon! I'm coming buddy!" The group followed him.

By the time they got to the area where the monster had stopped, in his place a much smaller digimon.

"He's Koromon again!" TK exclaimed.

Tai slid down the side of a dune, quickly picking the little guy up, "Are you alright?"

Koromon struggled to open his eyes and look at Tai, his pink orbs large and watery, "Well, yes," the little thing squeaked sadly, "But... I've done some terrible, horrible things," Koromon sobbed, quivering in the boy's grip, "I savagely attacked three of my fellow digimon, and even nearly attacked Lucy."

"It wasn't your fault," Biyomon said, trying to reassure the pink digimon.

"She's right," Gabumon told him.

"We completely understand," Tentomon told Koromon.

"I'm really sorry I didn't live up to your expectations of me, Tai," The little thing couldn't meet his partner's eyes anymore, shame for himself and his actions overriding everything else.

"It's not your fault," Matt said walking up, "I know who's to blame."

"I know it's all my fault," Tai said, standing up with Koromon in his arms, "I'm really, really sorry." The sincerity in his voice shocked Matt.

"I didn't mean to put it all on you, Tai," the blonde said.

"It's okay," the other boy said, "It's all my fault, right, Sora?"

"Yeah," she said, then tried to cover it up, "I mean-" But Tai interrupted her.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but I kept pushing people around anyway," the wild haired boy admitted, "I felt like because I had the Crest, I had to be in charge and fight on my own without any help from the rest of you."

"I'm sorry, everybody," he turned to face the rest of the group, "Please forgive me."

"Mm-hm," Koromon said, immediately accepting the boy's apology. Still, you could see the weight of his actions on Tai's shoulder. And Joe was not about to help him. As far as he was concerned, he hadn't earned it yet.

"I'll forgive you," he said, drawing everyone's attention, "if Lucy does." The girl in question was held bridal style in Joe's arms. She was still passed out and limp as a wet noodle. It almost looked like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were rolled back in her skull, and she was dead to the world.

Joe stood there, holding the girl in his arms, a blank look directed at Tai.

"Is she... is she gonna be okay?" he asked stepping closer to the oldest boy.

"Frankly, I don't know. The way she passed out, she might even go into a coma," Joe gave it to Tai straight, not sparing him the details, "Even if she does wake up soon, she might be frightened just by the sight of Agumon. You didn't see her, Tai," he deposited the girl in the other boys arms, taking Koromon for him, "She was scared out of her mind."

Joe turned and walked away, leaving Tai with the limp Lucy in his possession. Tai just stared down at the girl, tracing the tear tracks down her face, with his eyes as he realized exactly how badly he messed up.

Chapter Thirteen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	14. Chapter 14 Crest of Sincerity

Chapter Fourteen: Crest of Sincerity

The darkness was everywhere. In the sky, on the ground, splashed on the walls to haphazardly allow the light in. Lucy lay there, in the darkness, her arms and legs splayed out, her eyes half lidded. She didn't know where she was or how long she'd been there. She just knew that it should most definitely be brighter.

It was like the world was completely wrong, turned on it's head or something. She didn't know how she knew that, but it was similar to the way she knew that the Digiworld was her home. She just believed it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lucy stood up and started walking. She didn't appear to be getting anywhere at first as she walked towards the wall with the few streams of light shining into the darkness. It was like this odd room was moving with her to keep her from ever getting anywhere. She just kept walking though, it wasn't like she had anything better to do with her time right now.

As she walked, she contemplated why she was here. Skullgreymon. He was, quite literally, the stuff of nightmares. The last thing she was consciously aware of was the monster moving towards her as she screamed her lungs out. Probably not the most tactically successful plan ever created, but it was all she could do at the time. She'd seen that horrible monster, shrouded in shadowed flame as it was, for years, always chasing her. She never expected it to be real.

How could she? As far as she'd been told, it was nothing more than a production of her subconscious. A manifestation of some greater fear that she didn't fully understand.

'_Well, guess what, doc,_' Lucy thought as she continued to trudge through the darkness, '_You can eat that notepad, 'cause Skullgreymon was very real!_' She crossed her arms with a frown on her face for a little while. Her steps came more like angry stomps and her heart beat with a little bit of anger, but that faded quickly.

"I hope everyone is okay," she said softly. She thought about it again. The ten pillars of shadow, surrounded by swirling red flame, the face of Skullgreymon as it first appeared, the look on Tai's face when he realized the monster he'd created. She heaved a heavy sigh, "I hope that Tai and Agumon are okay." She couldn't hold it against the digimon in the partnership for sure, he was just trying to do what Tai told him to do. She didn't blame the boy either. She knew what he was doing, too. He was just trying to protect the group. He had been the only one with the potential to make his digimon evolve higher than before, he most likely felt like it was his responsibility.

"Yeah, he did kind of turn into a jerk there at the end, didn't he?"

Lucy twirled around in place, "Who's there?" Before here, instead of more darkness, stood a man in beige robes with a brown belt. The hood was pulled up so she was only able to see the bottom of his face.

"Yo," he said with a grin, holding up one brown gloved hand.

"Who are you?" She demanded. Her fists were clenched and she was ready to run or fight, depending on how this turned out.

The man's grin widened and he held his arms behind his back like she'd seen Gennai do more than a week ago, "You are weighing your options, I see. Trying to decide if I'm an enemy or a friend. I can see the problem, really I can. I mean, some stranger just appears in a dark place with you, what could he possibly be but a bad guy?"

Lucy tensed, sliding her right food a little further back, about ready to turn and sprint in the direction of the light.

"Aw, come on," The guy said, holding both hands before him, "at least give me a chance to talk before you go sprinting off."

"What do you want from me?" the girl said, glaring at the mysterious figure.

"I guess a hug is out of the question?" The man joked, "Just kidding, don't run, just a joke. She always did say I need to work on timing for my jokes."

"Why shouldn't I run? You haven't answered any of my questions. You just keep saying cryptic things," Lucy said with a glare.

"I'm a robed man in a dark place," he said, "I'm supposed to be cryptic."

"Not winning any points," Lucy snapped.

"Right, right," he sighed, "How about a show of good faith? Ask me any, reasonable, question and I will do my best to answer it. Okay?"

Lucy maintained her glare for a few moments as she stared at the man before her standing in the darkness of an inner world she never knew she had. He was being plenty jovial, but that could be to create a false sense of security. If he was really going to answer her question, she had to make it a good one.

She really thought deeply for a moment, trying to figure out the best question to ask, and the man just stood there, waiting for her patiently.

Finally, she decided on one she thought would be good enough.

"I have this feeling," she placed a hand on her chest, "Right here. It feels like... it feels like the Digiworld is my home. Is it true? Do I belong here?"

The man smiled at her question, "Very good question. The answer is... Do you want to belong here?"

"Oh, come on!" Lucy stamped one foot petulantly, crossing her arms, and glaring at the guy, "You said you'd answer my question! Come on, spill it!"

The man laughed as her fiery side made itself known, "You were born here."

"I...what?" She had been expecting another riddle answer, and had been prepared to tear into the guy for it. She hadn't actually expected him to give her an answer like that, "But my parents, they'd have told me if-"

"Oh, come now, Lucy," The man tsked, wagging one finger back and forth, "we both know that the Suzumebachi's aren't your birth parents. You found the adoption papers a year ago."

Lucy sighed. That was true. She had. And she hadn't meant to. It was just an accident. She was retrieving something for her dad and she'd found the papers in a drawer. He came in to see what was taking her so long and, that night, they'd had a long chat about how she was adopted, but it didn't mean that they loved her any less than if she was born to them. The girl took it all surprisingly well. It was only deductive reasoning really. She had naturally pink hair. Her parents had brown and black hair respectively.

"So, I was born here," she said softly.

"Yep," the man said, "Takes a load off, right? Finding out where you really come from?"

Lucy shrugged, "Yeah, I guess... Am I digimon?"

"Ha, no," the man laughed, "Not at all. You are a little girl. You just happen to come from the Digiworld instead of the Human World." The man suddenly looked up and to the left, "Uh oh, looks like my time is running out."

"Oh, no you don't!" Lucy said, "I've still got questions!"

"I know, dear," he said softly, "I know. But they'll have to wait. It would be a good idea for you to wake up soon." He began to fade into the darkness.

"Please, just one more question," the little girl begged, running after him.

"I'll do my best," his voice was becoming wispy as the light grew brighter and the world began to warm up.

"Who were my real parents?" she pleaded. She needed to know.

"You have your mother's heart," The man's grin continued for a moment, "they were good people. Your dad was a bit of a goof, though."

"But-"

"Talk to Gennai. He can tell you more," that was the last thing the man said as he was swallowed by the darkness. The very last thing she saw from the man was his grin. The light intensified behind her as she watched the spot where the man disappeared.

"Gennai," she nodded to herself, turning to face the light, "You've got some questions to answer, old man."

Slowly her senses stopped working under the intense light. First her sight, then her hearing, then feeling and smell, and finally taste. Then, like a hammer, all of her senses came back at once. It gave her a head ache.

"Mmm, ow," she groaned, reaching up to hold her head.

"Lucy!" A familiar voice gasped, "Guys! Lucy's waking up!" She heard the trampling of feet through sand and could feel the air shift as they approached.

"Lucy!" another voice cried happily, landing on her stomach and grasping her in a tight hold.

"Oy," the girl whimpered, "A little quieter, please. I've got a headache." She cracked one eye open, hissing as the intense sunlight did not make her head feel any better. It did give her a grand view of everyone though. She was laying in Tai's arms, the group and their digimon were standing around the two, and Skymomon was sitting on her stomach, her little fingers curled in the material of the girl's hoodie with tears in the corners of her big blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked softly, in deference to her head pain.

"Thirsty," The girl rasped as she wrapped one hand around her digimon, "Other than that, I'm good to go. Thanks, Joe," she said as she took a water bottle with her free hand.

"Lucy," Tai said, the weight of his trouble in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it," she rasped to the older boy, waving away his concerns, "Just promise me one thing, alright?"

"Anything," he nodded resolutely, "whatever you want, I swear it!"

"Next time, let's all fight together, okay?" her voice seemed stuck in the rasp. She guessed she'd probably permanently damaged her throat by screaming as hard as she did.

Tai, smiled, at little watery eyes as he did, and said, "Yeah, I can do that. I promise, from now on, we'll fight together."

Lucy sat up, taking another sip of her water, "Good, then you're forgiven."

Tai looked to Joe next. The older boy nodded.

"Good enough for me," he placed a hand on his shoulder, "You made a mistake, Tai. A big one. But we all do something dumb occasionally. I'd already forgiven you yesterday. Just watching how you took care of Lucy was enough to convince me you were really very sorry about it."

"Yesterday?" the girl asked, getting to her own two feet, still keeping a hold of Skymomon, "How long was I out?"

"Three days," Skymomon breathed, holding onto her partner like she was a lifeline, "we weren't sure you were ever going to wake up." She began to cry openly, just glad to have her partner back in action.

"Hey," Lucy said, rubbing the little monkey's back between her wings, "It's alright, everything is okay."

"Please, don't do that again," The monkey sobbed, hiding her face against Lucy's shoulder.

"I don't plan on it," the girl assured the monkey. For a few moments, everyone just basked in the good feeling of having the groups order maintained again. If one of them was out for the count, it put everyone in low spirits. Matt didn't want to think about what would happen if one of them ever disappeared.

"It's good to have you back, Lucy," Matt said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah," TK exclaimed as he stood there with Tokomon riding on his head, "We thought you were gonna sleep like Rip Van Winkle."

The group chuckled at that and Lucy said, "Nah, I'd get too hungry," as she said that, her stomach rumbled, "Er, speaking of..."

"Here," Joe said, handing her a couple apples, "Might want to take it slow. You haven't eaten a thing in the last three days, no doubt, your stomach shrank."

"Thank you," she said, taking a bite and swallowing it quickly, "So, where are we going?"

"That way," Mimi said, pointing in one direction through the desert they were standing in, "We wanted to get as far away from that coliseum as possible. That nasty Etemon knows we were there."

"And he might be tracking us down as we speak," Izzy added, "I hate to push it, but we should probably keep moving."

"It's okay," Tai said, "I'll carry you, if you need it, Lucy."

"No," she waved him off, holding a half eaten apple, "I can handle it for a while, let's just get going."

Koromon, who had been riding in Joe's arms while Tai carried Lucy, was glad to have the girl up and about again. He was back in Tai's hold now, and shot the occasional glance to the girl who was slowly eating her apple. Skymomon had let go of her, not wanting to drag the girl down in the heat of this desert, but for the most part wasn't leaving her side.

"What are you thinking about, Koromon?" Tai asked.

"I hope Lucy isn't afraid of me," the little pink head said, "Like Joe said, you know?"

"I doubt it buddy. Nobody could be afraid of you once they got to know you, and Lucy knows you," the boy told his digimon.

"But-"

"Hey, hey," Tai interrupted, "Don't you think I'd know? I'm telling you, she's forgiven me, she's definitely not afraid of you."

"If you say so, Tai," Koromon sighed.

+-9

Hours later, the entire group was feeling the burn. The desert had gone from hot sand to hot dirt. A few cacti were spread around, but none of them big enough to produce enough shade to relax under. Everyone was drooping quite a bit as they walked continuously forward.

"Man," Matt eventually said, "this desert is so hot, even a lizard would need sun screen."

"Sora," Biyomon said sweetly as she turned to the red headed girl, "can you carry me?"

"Not even," Sora replied, amused at the request, but still not going to comply.

"A crew cut would look nice on you," Tentomon said Izzy, "And it's cooler." Izzy favored the insect with a tired stare, sighing as he wiped his forehead of sweat. Even if that was true, they had no barber anywhere nearby to give him the mentioned cut.

"Do I look fat?" Gabumon asked Matt.

"No, you look hot," the boy said, "Especially with a fur coat. That thing really needs a zipper."

"Or maybe just removable shirt sleeves," the digimon said, a tired look on his face.

"I don't know about you guys," Lucy said in her now permanent rasp, "But I could go for an ice cream sundae."

"Totally," Skymomon said, right next to the girl.

"Hey," Gomamon said, looking up at Joe, "how about restin' our feet?"

"There's no place to sit," the older boy pointed out, "Unless you want to sit on a cactus." The seal digimon just sighed.

"Great view up here," Tokomon said from his place on TK's head.

"Next time, I ride," the eight year old said.

Koromon was really not looking very good at all. The heat was obviously getting to him, not to mention the burn off of the dark energy that had been inside of him a few days ago.

"You look terrible, Koromon," Tai said, feeling guilty for his actions again, "If only I hadn't acted like such a bone head, you never would have Digivolved."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Mimi said with a strained smile due to the heat, "Although, come to think of it, you really have made a super, icky mess of things."

The boy grimaced, "Thanks, Mimi."

"Oh, don't mention it, Tai," the girl obviously picked up on sarcasm worse than Skymomon did, "I'm glad to help with a pep talk every now and then."

Tai didn't have the heart to tell the girl that he didn't really mean it, instead just choosing to nod at her.

The trek continued, though the pace was slow to keep from over heating. Lucy actually took off her hoodie, wearing only the white tank top underneath while she draped the red article of clothing over one shoulder.

"I haven't sweated this much since cheer leader try outs," Mimi complained as she took off her hat and wiped her brow. Palmon was looking just as tired.

"Koromon doesn't look good," Tai said, "I'm really worried."

"You know, what we need is a whole bunch of shade," Palmon said, standing next to Mimi with her arms hanging limply by her side, "Like a big umbrella or a really big tree," she sighed, "Or maybe I could turn into a giant cactus and smile down at all of you as I provide cool refreshing comfort!" the digimon was smiling dreamily with her eyes closed as she thought about all of her friends laying about in her shadow while she stood as Togemon. And as the cactus digimon, she wouldn't mind the heat so much.

"It's official," Matt's voice broke into her dream, "The heat has turned Palmon's brain into a french fry. Earth to Palmon, come in."

"Palmon," Mimi tried next. It worked this time, the digimon opening her eyes and blinking in confusion when she noticed that, no, she was not a giant cactus providing shade for her friends. There was something new to see though.

"Wowie! I did that?" the plant digimon asked. There was now a truly giant cactus in front of the group. It looked more than a hundred feet tall. "Gee, I'm pretty amazing!"

"Yeah, you better believe it, Palmon!" Tai said, a wide smile on his face from the promise of relief from this horrible heat, "Come on, everybody, let's head for some shade!"

The group ran forward, grins on their faces.

Lucy caught up to Palmon, "Do you think you can make a mountain of ice cream appear next?"

"Maybe," the plant digimon said, "if I try hard enough."

"Hey," Tai said as he skidded to a stop at the base of the cactus, "What happened to the shade?"

The cactus wavered in the air before them, then slowly began to fade away until it was nothing more than a memory.

"It was just a mirage!" Matt groaned, "We've been tricked!" as one the group collapsed to the ground, despair plainly visible on their faces. Lucy was laying with one arm over her eyes to block out the sun. She was trying to look on the bright side of things. She wasn't really succeeding at the moment.

"Well, well. It's about time you got here."

The voice came from the empty air, getting the kids attention. They looked all around, but it was only when another one of those odd projectors melted out of the ground that they spotted him.

"I was just about ready to give up on you," Gennai said as he appeared in the rainbow light again.

"It's Gennai!" Matt exclaimed. The old man was wearing the same clothing as before, and stood in a similar pose, with his hands behind his back.

"Gennai," Tai said, holding Koromon in his lap, "we found the Tags and couple of Crests like you wanted, but when we got into our digimon couldn't Digivolve. They ended up worse off than when they started. Take a look at what happened to poor Agumon, he is just not himself!" He held the sickly looking digimon before him for the old man to get a good look, "And I'm supposed to be helping him."

"I think those thingies are more trouble than their worth!" Mimi said, a frown on her face as she sat at the back of the group.

"Calm down, kids, let me explain," the held his hands before him to stop their complaints, "The Tags and Crests are extremely important. Please make sure no one else gets a hold of them," he put his arms behind his back again, "In the end, you shall see that they work together to create total harmony."

The children and digimon were awed at this. Who could have guessed that they would have been so important.

"In English?" Mimi requested.

"Just trust me. After all, I'm the floating, glowing guy," he said by way of explanation, "As for Koromon, he wouldn't be so helpless if you knew how to care for him in the proper way."

"But I did the best I could," Tai said plaintively.

"Patience is what you need to learn my friends," Gennai told them all, but especially Tai, "You will learn it in time."

"But I want to have Agumon back now," the boy sighed.

"Gennai," Lucy said now, standing up, "did you know my parents?"

"Ah, Lucy," the man said, contemplating her question, "Yes, I think I did. I recognize you now. You've grown quite a lot since the last time I saw you. Your parents were-" he was interrupted as his image flickered, "I'm losing my connection. We'll have to continue this later. Tai, you'll figure out how to turn Koromon back to Agumon, and Lucy, remain strong and we'll meet somewhere down the line. I'll tell you about your parents then. Good luck, all of you."

"Wait a minute!" Tai yelled.

"Sorry, I'm on a tight schedule," were Gennai's last words before he completely disappeared.

"It never fails!" Tai complained, "Every time I need to know about something, he hangs me out to dry!"

Towards the back of the group, Gabumon was staring at the ground sadly.

"Are we being cared for properly?" Biyomon asked, coming over to ask the fur coated digimon.

"If we were," Gabumon started, hating to say this, "Agumon wouldn't have Digivolved backwards."

"Come on!" Matt said, turning to his partner, "Don't freak me out!"

Izzy's head was down and you could hear the sadness in his voice as he said, "I'm better with computers."

"That's ridiculous!" Tentomon said, "As far as I'm concerned, you're the best!"

"You look bummed," Gomamon said to Joe.

"How am I supposed to take care of you? Is there a hand book somewhere?" Joe sighed, "I feel very inadequate."

"Me too," the little critter sighed back. Off in the distance the sound of a humongous horn filled the hot desert air.

The general consensus of the group was, "Huh?"

Coming towards them, plowing through the desert like it was the deep blue sea, was massive ship.

"Is that a battle ship?" Tai asked.

"Could be," Sora admitted, "But it looks more like a fancy, cruise ship."

Joe stood up, staring as it came ever closer, "The passengers will want their money back when they see this place!"

"Yeah," Mimi said, shock on her face.

"It could be just a mirage," TK reasoned.

"Yeah, well, it looks pretty real to me," Matt said, panic beginning to set in as the humongous boat didn't slow down as it approached. With scared cried the children all ran to one side of the boat hoping to just let it pass without getting hurt. Instead, after getting a few yards past where they just were, the massive thing began to slow down till it reached a stop.

The boat was really, really big. It was black and red on the bottom, white on the top, and had two giant smoke stacks that you could fit a Greymon in comfortably.

On the main deck they noticed something looking down at them, "Ahoy!" It called in a familiar voice, laughing lightly as it did. The children gasped as they looked at the green slug creature.

"Numemon," Mimi breathed.

Koromon closed his eyes like he was in physical pain and sobbed from the sheer heat they were being forced to endure. Tai, of course, heard this as he looked down at his suffering partner, then looked back up to the slug monster.

"Hey, fella!" He shouted up to him, "Could all of us come aboard and freshen up?"

Numemon gave the wild haired boy the equivalent of a raised eyebrow, but said nothing back. It looked like he was gonna say no, though.

"If you don't mind, this needs a woman's touch," Mimi commented as she walked by Tai with a smile on her face. She stood in plain view of the Numemon, turned her body to one side and said, as cutely as she possibly could manage, her finger to her mouth and everything, "Well, hey there, big boy. Your ship looks so, so inviting. How about letting us on board so that we can check it out? Oh please," she fluttered her eye lids at the creature on deck.

It worked like a charm, the thing half melted under her sugary cuteness, hearts in his eyes. Next thing they knew, a walk way was lowered for them.

"Alright, Mimi!" Lucy rasped, "You heart breaker, you!"

"When you've got it," The girl said with a smug smile as she stepped onto the ramp. Everyone else followed rather quickly.

On deck they saw other Numemon going to and fro, doing things that needed to be done around the boat.

"Alright! They've got a pool!" Tai pointed out.

"Yay!" Gomamon cried, jumping forward and splashing into the water before anyone could stop him. He swam around beneath it for a few seconds before surfacing and floating on his back, "Aaaah," he sighed pleasantly, "this is heaven."

"Gomamon," Joe scolded, "at least wait for us," He turned to the Numemon near the ramp, "Could we use one of the rooms to change?"

"Sure, buddy!" The thing said, only looking at Mimi, "Anything for a friend of hers!"

"I think I'll join you," Tai said, following Joe as he picked a random room to change in, "Do you want to swim with us, Koromon?" The little pink think shook its head negatively, "alright then, We'll leave you under an umbrella nearby, and you watch over our crests while we swim, okay?" He nodded this time, just happy to be out from under the sun.

"Do you have showers on board?" Mimi asked.

"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" Numemon said excitedly, shaking his head so fast his eye stocks were bouncing around, "Right this way, lady! You're friends can join you, too!"

"I'm all for that," Sora said with a grin, she and Biyomon following Mimi and Palmon, "You coming, Lucy?"

The pink haired girl shook her head, "No, I'll catch a bath later. The four of us are gonna try to scare up some grub," she turned to Izzy, TK, and Matt, "Right guys?" They nodded. The group split up then, Joe and Tai going to swim, Mimi and Sora going for a shower, while the rest went in search of food.

"Oh, wow," Mimi said, "Look at these showers." She threw off her hat and Sora was right behind her, taking off more articles of clothing as they moved through the room, "We can just stay here and pamper ourselves for hours."

"I agree," Sora said, enjoying the finer things for once, "We were getting pretty smelly. Oh wow! They've even got little, tiny soap bars!"

+-9

"Check out the incredible spread!" Matt exclaimed when he and the others had stumbled into the dining hall. They gathered around one end and stared at the meal for a couple minutes, nearly drooling.

"It appears to be highly edible," Izzy commented.

"I propose we eat a bit, and take the left overs with us!" Tentomon said.

"Steak, ham, chicken, fish, salad, it's got everything a growing girl needs and more!" Lucy said from next to TK.

"Let's eat it all now!" Matt said in argument of Tentomon's plan.

"Whoa," TK breathed as he stared at some of the food, "I can't believe it!"

"Remember when the food was just an illusion?" Izzy asked, wary of it all, but still hoping it was real.

"Another alien plot?" Matt wondered.

"It doesn't smell like an alien plot," the bug digimon said, taking big whiffs of the gathered food.

"Maybe it is just another trick, but at least it will taste good for now," Lucy said.

Izzy was staring at the meal just as hungrily as the others, his nose taking in all the scents of the spread before them and finally he said, "I have come to the conclusion after extensive deliberation that it would be rude to allow this cuisine to become cold."

"Yeah!" The kids and digimon said, grabbing plates and loading them down with their favored foods.

+-9

Joe and Tai were lounging in the pool already. Gomamon had stayed as he was, on his back, floating in the cool water, while the boys were enjoying inflatable beds. They were only wearing their shorts and occasionally splashed water up onto themselves whenever they felt they were getting too hot. Koromon was sitting under the shade of a lounge umbrella by the pool, the Crests for Reliability and Courage were on either side of him. He was already looking a lot better than he had not even ten minutes earlier.

"I'm confused, Joe," Tai said to the older boy, "What did Gennai mean when he said that we weren't taking care of our digimon properly?"

"Ah, I don't know," the blue haired boy spoke, "we've done everything but give them an allowance."

They didn't notice that the captain of the ship was watching them through a pair of binoculars.

"Aha," the seemingly human captain said, "I see a couple of them have taken the bait," He pulled the binoculars from his eyes with a grin under his mustache as he said, "Time for me to get started. They'll never forget this cruise!" He hunched over suddenly, his form shaking and quivering, then he exploded out of his nice blue suit as he jumped into the air to land on the railing of one of the upper decks.

Instead of human feet gripping the rail, it was the three toed claws of a bird. I giant, cream colored rooster, actually. He had a huge beak, with five black spikes sticking up and out of his bottom jaw and the very tip of his beak, red eyes, a black feather mohawk, and the ends of his tail feathers were tipped with red.

"I'm Kokatorimon!" He said to... no one really, "My cocadoodle doo will blow out your ear drums! Mess with me and you'll be pecked into surrender!" the bird digimon jumped off the railing and approached the computer console nearby, "Etemon will reward me greatly when I tell him that i've trapped the Digidestined kids on my ship!" he pressed a button on the console and the screen lit up with static and a hiss.

"Something's wrong," Kokatorimon said after a few minutes when the screen didn't light up with Etemon's face, "Etemon's network appears to be down. Ah, who needs him? I'll have the pleasure of plastering their feathers all by myself," He stepped away from the console and over to one of the communication pipes that would let him talk to the Numemon below deck in the boiler room, "It's amazing how my brain surpasses my good looks," he pulled the cap down and said into it, "Now here this, I have an important message for ya."

+-9

Down below, the Numemon stopped what they were doing to listen to the boss.

"Listen up! Here's the deal! I'll give you Numemon an extra serving of dried bread and even throw in some jelly if you capture those kids!" the slugs looked around at each other, grins spreading across their blue dotted faces.

Five minutes later they had grabbed nets and moved to the pool deck on the ship. They threw the nets with better accuracy than their sludge, getting both Joe and Tai before they realized they were even in any danger. The boys yelped and immediately began to struggle to get out, but they didn't have a good footing to do so.

Gomamon turned over and moved to try and help while Koromon woke up.

"I have to help them!" The little guy said to himself.

"Don't you know I'm claustrophobic!" Joe cried out, struggling with the net. Tai was right next to him, kicking and clawing at his cloth prison.

"What's gotten into you Numemon?" the wild haired boy demanded.

"Joe!" Gomamon yelled. He turned to the side just in time to see three more Numemon trying to get him with a net as well. "Oh no you don't! _Marching Fishes!_" The multicolored flew from the pool water, shredding the net. Gomamon jumped out of the water with them, glaring at the slugs.

A few more of the green and blue monsters approached Koromon and the Crests with ill intent.

"Hey!" Tai yelled, looking over his shoulder, "Keep your hands off!"

"Digivolve!" Koromon cried. Tai's Digivice, which was thankfully water proof, began to go through the process of transferring Tai's energy to the little pink head that was his digimon.

"Koromon, Digivolve to Agumon!"

And the yellow dino was back and in full form. The Numemon skittered away from him, sensing a fight they couldn't win.

"Wow," Tai breathed, happy to see the familiar form of his friend, "He's back!"

The dinosaur digimon jumped down off the table he was on when he transformed, "_Pepper breath!_" The fire ball flew from his mouth. A couple of the Numemon jumped out of the way, desperate not to be hit, but just behind them was Kokatorimon. He knocked aside the fiery blast like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Oh no!" Agumon quailed.

"That bad egg is Kokatorimon!" Gomamon said from right beside him for the benefit of the humans.

"_Petra-Fire!_" The evil chicken digimon roared, his eyes glowing with a green for a moment before the green beams flashed out and hit the digimon. In seconds, Agumon and Gomamon were statues. The giant bird digimon laughed maniacally, sounding more like the call a rooster makes at sunrise.

"Poor Agumon!" Tai exclaimed.

"Gomamon!" Joe called out, hoping to wake his partner.

Kokatorimon just stepped around the two stone digimon and up to the table where the kids had left their Crests, "Look, they left be a present!" He picked up both Crests with his dextrous wings and turned around to face the children in the pool, "You're sunk without these!" he dangled them teasingly in front of the two captured Digidestined, "But I wouldn't be to upset. Now you've got yourselves a couple of nice digimon garden ornaments!" His laughter filled the air again.

He turned and ran then, leaving the Numemon with the job of dealing with the two boys. Kokatorimon laughed the whole way as he twirled the valuable pendants around his wings. His next stop was the dining hall.

"_Blue Blaster!_" Gabumon shouted as he sent his attack at a couple of the Numemon trying to capture his human friends.

"_Whirlwind Fist!_" Skymomon called as she punched her green attack forward. It missed the creeps, but it came close enough to think twice before approaching her or her partner again.

"_Super Shocker!_" Tentomon called his attack next.

"_Bubble Pow!_" Tokomon went last.

The four digimon finished their attacks just in time for Kokatormion to show up on their flank.

"It's your turn! _Petra-Fire!_" Before the digimon could even think to dodge, they were rendered into statues.

"They've been turned into rocks!" Matt exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Izzy tried to deny what was right before his very eyes.

"Poor Tokomon!" TK cried.

"You'll be sorry!" Lucy threatened the bird, "We're not the only ones here and the others will stop you!"

"Oh, you mean your friends out on deck? I've already had a look at them," He held up the Crests, "They weren't even much of a challenge to capture, but then, neither were you!" His cawing laughter sounded again, getting the kids to grimace

+-9

Finally Kokatorimon approached the room the Numemon had told him the last two girls were hiding out in. He burst in through the door to see that his Numemon were searching the room, but had only found the girl's clothing.

"Huh?" He turned to one of the sailor suited slugs and growled out, "Where are the rest of the children!?"

"Dah, we don't know," one of them said back.

About that time they heard the water running in the bathroom.

"I'd do anything for a good moisturizing shampoo," Mimi said as she washed the dirt out of her hair.

Behind the girls, approaching the door, the feather brains silhouette could be seen. Then, with great force he kicked the door in and stormed into the bathroom to find... nothing. The girls were gone. He noticed an open window and growled.

"You little chickadees think you're so smart!" He growled before turning around and running out of the room.

Outside, on the outer track around the boarders rooms, Mimi and Sora were running about with their digimon and nothing but towels to keep them decent. They were making pretty good time as they tried to get to the main deck and find the others.

Before they could get there though, the giant chicken digimon slid into their path. The slid to a halt.

"It's Kokatorimon!" Both Palmon and Biyomon announced.

"He's not the Easter chicken?" Sora asked, able to joke despite their fear.

"He's bad news," the pink bird digimon told her.

The girls gasped when they took a closer look at the chicken.

"That omelet head has Tai and Joe's tags!" Mimi exclaimed.

"I ran into several of your friends, over by the pool," the monster told them, "But don't get your heads in a spin, they're just drying off." He grinned maliciously as he thought about how he'd tied the other six children he'd found to a net and hung them out under the sun to let them back for a while. "Nothing like fried little faces with curly corn spuds and lots of coleslaw!"

"Where are the digimon?" Biyomon asked, knowing that if the digimon were with their partners they wouldn't be captured for long.

"Don' worry about those guys. Confidentially, I find them to be a little bit on the stiff side!" He grinned at his pun, "But that just happens to be my personal opinion."

"Your opinion stinks!" Palmon told the bird with her hands on her green hips.

"Now you're going to meet the same fate!" He crowd at them and his eyes turned green with his Petra-fire attack. The girls however didn't just wait for him to snag them with the blast, turning and running just as he fired, making it so he turned only a portion of his ship into stone.

"Come back, you chickens!" the monster shouted as he chased after them.

"Who's he callin' chicken?" Sora demanded as they ran. Luckily, the wooden deck was a lot nicer to their feet than the burning sands would have been. Unfortunately, on a ship there is only so far that you can run before you run out of boat.

The two girls found themselves cornered on the rear observation deck.

Kokatorimon's laugh chased them to the very edges of the ship as he saw his victory about to come.

"What do we do now?" Sora asked, "We're trapped!"

"Time to walk the plank!" The evil chicken digimon growled at them, crouching for a jump.

Sora frowned and held her Digivice forward, "Biyomon! Do your stuff!"

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" The firebird digimon let out her own caw as she took to the air.

"Hey!" the monster chicken called, "That's not fair!"

Birdramon didn't seem to care as she powered up her special attack, "_Meteor wing!_" The purifying fire slammed into the deck where Kokatorimon had just been standing, the digimon barely dodging the attack.

"What's the matter, you big cluck? Can't you fly?" Sora taunted.

"Palmon," Mimi said, holding out her Digivice as well, "it's your turn."

"Right!" Palmon glowed and grew, "Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!"

"_Meteor Wing!_" Birdramon fired off another attack, causing the enemy digimon to drop the Tags and Crests in his mad scramble to escape the fiery doom.

"_Needle Spray!_" Togemon shouted before firing thousands of tiny projectiles at the chicken. She then stalked forward and landed a combo of punches on the evil bird digimon that sent him flying right into one of the smoke stacks. A blast of fire signaled his landing at the bottom. Unseen by the girls, but around the large ship, the digimon partners of the Digidestined began to revive.

"Fried chicken!" Mimi quipped as the girls picked up Joe and Tai's tags.

+-9

Realizing their boss was beaten, the Numemon ditched the uniforms, lowered the ramp and filed off the boat in a mess of green and blue that had the kids looking on with awe. After Mimi and Sora had gotten them down, the kids had gathered together to leave as well.

"I say we do the same as they are, and abandon ship," Tai suggested.

"I guess it's a little late for a mutiny," Izzy commented.

"At least we ate while we could," Lucy said next.

"Don't worry," Sora assured them, "The captain's already been fricasseed."

"Still, I'd be much happier if we left this nightmare behind us," Joe said, just glad to be alive.

+-9

Twenty minutes later, the kids were walking through the desert again and Mimi was rather displeased with this development. It was really too bad they couldn't have stayed back at the ship. Kokatorimon was gone, the Numemon had abandoned it to the middle of the desert, and there was still some good food to be had and soft beds to be slept in. Surely they could have waited at least one night.

"Well, the weather sure hasn't gotten any cooler," Joe said with a slight whine in his tone.

"Do you hear something?" Mimi asked as she walked along behind TK, at the back of the group. The group stopped, listened and found that yes, there was a sound coming towards them, and it was rather familiar. Looking behind themselves, they would find the cruise ship on a collision course with them.

"Run and scream?" Lucy asked.

"Run and scream!" Joe confirmed. The group turned around, screams in their throats and fear in their eyes. They ran like the wind, but the Giant ship was still catching up.

"That's one made digimon with his feathers out of joint!" Matt found the time to comment, he was running beside TK making sure the little guy didn't trip.

"Could be worse," Lucy panted near the back of the pack.

"How could this be any worse?" Joe demanded.

"If _that_ giant cactus isn't real!" She pointed forward.

Like earlier in the day, the kids found a humongous cactus in their path, hundreds of feet tall.

"Run around to the other side!" Matt told the group. They moved to obey, just as the liner was catching up to them. They made it into the shadow of the massive desert plan just in time to see the boat crash into the cactus.

The mass and speed of the boat caused it to flip forward, smoke stacks first, into the desert plant when it bounced off the front of it without even scratching the green hide. The weight of the boat leaning against the cactus caused it to bend backwards so far that the top nearly touched the desert floor. Then it bounces back, flinging the boat high into the air until a cable sticking out of the back of it was pulled taught.

The wire sparked, the fuel tanks caught fire, and the explosion was massive. If it had been on the ground, the kids would have been knocked into next week from the pressure of the air.

"Wow!" Mimi proclaimed, after they realized the danger was over, "This cactus is even bigger than a sky scraper!"

"Yeah," Palmon agreed, "What's a sky scraper?"

"Look up there!" Tai pointed upwards, towards the top of the giant desert plant, "Check it out, everybody!" A yellow light was glowing at the side of the top. It subsided to reveal a giant pink flower.

The flower bloomed, its giant petals opening to reveal a giant grey slab of stone.

"What is that?" Lucy asked.

"Do you think it could be another Crest?" Tai asked as the slab slowly lowered through the air.

Mimi realized that she could feel a warmth from her Tag. She pulled it out of her shirt to see it glowing a bright green. The slab of rock began to shrink, glowing green as it did, and it flew faster through the air towards the pink wearing girl. When it was small enough to fit inside the Tag, it zipped down, slid itself into the pendant around Mimi's neck, and stopped glowing. It allowed the children to see a glyphic looking tear drop.

"Congratulations, Mimi!" Sora smiled for the girl.

"The Crest of Sincerity," The girl in question breathed, "I don't deserve it, but if it'll help me take care of Palmon, I'll keep it," she said, turning a smile on the plant digimon.

"Alright!" Lucy cheered, "Just five more to go!"

"Yeah!" TK said, a grin on his face, "I wonder what mine will be."

"The Crest of Awesome Little Brothers would be my guess," Matt said with a grin on his face.

"Ya think so?" TK asked.

"Could be," the older blonde nodded.

"I guess today didn't turn out too bad after all, right guys?" Tai said, getting a chorus of agreement.

Chapter Fourteen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	15. Chapter 15 The Piximon Cometh

Chapter Fifteen: The Piximon Cometh

The desert stretched on. It had been little more than a day since the debacle with the cruise ship, and they'd been walking through the desert for three days before that. It was really odd not crossing out of the desert in only a few hours. Back on File Island the children had grown used to going from hot to cold to temperate to machine factory in the course of a single day. Out here the only thing they could count on was the heat.

"I suppose it is logical, in a loose sense of the word," Izzy began, "On the island, it could be considered a miniature world unto itself, with varying climates and natural phenomena like volcanoes and lakes. If the larger land masses were to also incorporate the same kind of shifting environs, then it would make sense that the deserts, ice fields and forests would be larger than we're used to."

"Great," Joe sighed, hanging his head, "How big is Server compared to File?"

"Well," the boy pulled his lap top off of his back to make some calculations, "the closest approximation of size references I can give you from this map is..." He paused to type in grid measurements and the necessary computations, "Six hundred to one, one being File Island."

"Oh, well, awesome," Lucy drawled, "So, by that logic, this desert is six hundred times larger than the one outside the Yokomon village."

"Indeed," the tech genius said, "But that's actually the good news."

"How is this, in anyway, good news?" Mimi asked rather irritably. She was tired, and hot, and her feet hurt, and...and... and she wanted to go home!"

"It's good news by dint of being better than the following information," Izzy told her patiently, "The map I have of Server is incomplete. I have no way of knowing if what I have on my computer is just a small corner of a greater continent, or if it is the majority of it, and the other parts were left out as uninhabitable zones.

"I dunno," Matt sighed as he walked along behind his little brother as usual, "What's more unfriendly than a desert?"

"A lot of things," Sora said, "Sure, it's hot out here, but don't forget, if we run into an ice field like we did back on File Island, we'll be stuck going around it. We'd never make it if we tried to go through."

"That's true, I guess," Matt said, "But even then, if we had the right gear we could make."

"Yeah," Joe said, playing devil's advocate, "But if we had the gear we needed to cross an ice field, we could never cross a desert with it."

"He's right," Lucy nodded to him, "We could take off the coats, but we'd still have to carry them. I don't know about you, but I'm happy not carrying a fifty pound pack through the desert. That's more than half of what I weigh."

"I see your point," Matt said, sighing and slumping.

"Come on," Tai said, walking at the head of the group, "this isn't so bad," He paused to think about the intense heat and dwindling water supply, "Okay, I admit it, a cool breeze would be nice, but it's still a beautiful day! Don't you agree, Agumon?"

"Yeah, maybe for a scorpion," the little dinosaur snarked.

Mimi had stopped paying attention to just about everything else when the others had decided to go into technical speech. Instead, she chose to look at her Tag and Crest again. It was a lime green color, set into the gold of the Tag, and the tear drop marking was etched in very nicely. She wasn't sure how she knew it symbolized Sincerity, but she did. Izzy and Tentomon probably knew, but she had another matter that she thought was important about it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Joe?" The girl asked, holding it before her by the cord. Sure, it wasn't pink, but she still thought it looked wonderful. "And every Crest we've found so far has been different."

"Yeah," Joe nodded, "But we need to learn how to use them." He walked along behind the girl with his hand on his chin, his eyes cast towards the ground.

"Or else our digimon could Digivolve all messed up, right?" Sora added.

"I... I don't want to see what would happen to Skymomon if that happened. I don't want her to become a monster like Skullgreymon," Lucy added. The girl had forgiven, but _not_ forgotten. She didn't really want to admit it, but she was actually still a little afraid of Agumon every time a fight came up. What if he freaked out and Dark Digivolved again into that horrible monster. She didn't think she'd pass out again, but she probably still wouldn't be of much use if he was around.

"None of that really matters until we find _all_ the Crests," Matt said causing the others to stop and turn. The only two who didn't were Tai and Agumon who hadn't realized they were so far ahead of the group.

"Hmm," Izzy intoned as he stepped up before the older blonde boy, "I think you may be right about that one, Matt," he said with a hand on his chin, "Maybe Crests' power comes from having them all."

Ahead of the group, Tai and Agumon finally realized something was up. They looked over the shoulders and saw that the rest of the kids and digimon had stopped walking and were discussing something.

"Hm. What are they doing back there?" He asked aloud. He looked to Agumon, who shrugged, then back to the group. A thought crossed his mind about what it meant that he was being left out of the conversation, but he stamped that down pretty quickly. Instead he called out to the group, "Hey! You guys! We gotta move on! If we're gonna take some down time, we're gonna need to find some shade!" He didn't notice that, as he spoke, the sands of the desert began to shift under his feet.

"Aw, thanks, Tai!" TK called back with a hint of annoyance in his tone, "We're having a serious Digi-conversation about the Crests and everything! And you made me forget what I was saying!" Tai and Agumon looked a little confused, was that all they were talking about? Tai had already figured it out. Agumon was going to Digivolve higher than Greymon when he needed to. "You be in charge of finding the shade! We'll catch up!" TK turned back to the others, trying to figure out what it was he was going to say.

Agumon and Tai looked to each other and were about to reply to TK's statement just now about this being the completely wrong time for them to split up when something pulled the two of them beneath the sands.

"What happened?" The littlest child asked, seeing the two just fall into the ground.

"Something grabbed them, from underneath!" Joe exclaimed, causing Mimi to gasp in fear.

The kids didn't have to wait long for the big reveal, either. A familiar, bright orange carapace lifted out of the sands.

"It's Kuwagamon!" Matt pointed out.

Tai and Agumon were shouting in fright as the held on to the ends of his pincers. The monster whipped his head back and forth to dislodge them. It eventually worked when he flipped his head up. Agumon fell to the ground in front of the insectoid and Tai was tossed somewhere behind him.

"Is it the same one? Really?" Izzy screamed, fear clearly in his tone.

"It's Kuwagamon alright, there's no mistaking that ugly face," Palmon informed, "But he's sure bigger than he was the last time."

"No way," Lucy said, "SkyYetimon knocked that overgrown bug into the sea, back when we were separated. How would he get all the way here so fast?"

"Guess he needed the Frequent Flier Miles," Skymomon said, repeating something she'd heard Joe say.

Agumon pulled himself out of the sand in time to see the giant bug digimon leaning down to get him. He didn't hesitate for a second as he gathered the energy necessary for his attack.

"_Pepper Breath!_" The fire ball flew true, burning against the head of the monster that stood before him. It knocked the beetle's head to the side for a moment, then it turned back and roared at him, angrier than ever.

"Uh, we have a big problem, this guy's much stronger than he used to be!" Agumon cried out.

"Oh no! Now," Gabumon called out, "Digivolve! Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" he tried to get his friend to Digivolve and save himself.

Tai was standing up from where he'd landed by this point, watching the fight, "Alright. Alright, rethinking our training program, here," Skullgreymon's face flashed in front of his eyes, "Oh, man! I hope Agumon doesn't freak out."

'_What if something's wrong with me? What if I can't become Greymon?_' He looked back at the rest of the kids, finding one face in particular, '_What if I do and try to hurt Lucy again?_' The girl was obviously scared, but she was looking at the giant beetle, not Agumon. The distance made it appear that she was looking at the yellow dinosaur. He cast his gaze to the ground, he couldn't take it if his friends were in trouble every time he Digivolved.

"Agumon!" Tai shouted, seeing his partner not even trying to move out of the way of Kuwagamon's attack, "Stay away from his choppers!"

The digimon finally realized he was in real danger, but he couldn't move, fear keeping him in place as he realized there was no way to stop the giant, orange monster without Digivolving. And he was _not_ going to Digivolve. He couldn't. Not until he was sure he wouldn't hurt anybody.

"Move, Agumon!" Gomamon yelled, "Move, move! Do something! Get back!"

Agumon finally did something. He closed his eyes and cringed, waiting for the pain of being eaten.

A half second before the pincers closed around him and turned him into Agumon steak, Tai tackled the yellow digimon to the ground.

"I got you!" he exclaimed.

"Nice one," Agumon complimented as they began to get up.

"Get back down!" Lucy screamed. Tai followed her orders, pushing himself and his partner back into the sands just as Kuwagamon tried snapping his pincers around them again.

"_Pixy Bomb, Seek and Destroy!_" Suddenly, something very small flew through the air and struck the Kuwagamon across the top of its head. To the kids watching, it looked like a stiff wind, that they couldn't feel, came along and slowly blue away a Kuwagamon shaped sand castle.

They may not have known what happened, but they did breathe a sigh of relief before realizing that Agumon and Tai were right there where whatever it was happened.

"Tai, Agumon!" Sora's cry started the stampede as the rest of the group ran forward to find the kid and his digimon.

They found them, perfectly healthy, just half buried in the sand. The two pulled themselves out of the sand and looked around. Finally their eyes settled on each other.

"What just happened?" Tai breathed. About that moment, a little digimon, even smaller than Tokomon, walked by. He had pink fur, white wings, and tan face, wings and feet. Over all he looked like someone had put a face on a pink fluff ball, then attacked arms, legs, and wings.

The little guy walked a few feet in front of the two lying in the sand, humming to himself as he did. He carried a spear in one hand and it almost looked like he was doing an adorable little march through the sands.

"Huh!?" Tai and Agumon intoned at the same time, while everyone else followed the little thing's path.

"A powder puff with wings!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Just don't use it on your face," Sora advised the other girl.

"And what happened to Kuwagamon?" Joe asked.

"Oh, man," TK said, laying down to watch the little thing walk about, "Maybe that's him."

"Ha!" The little thing whipped around to face the group that had all crouched down to look at him, "I am no enemy! Nope. Yep, Yep! If anything you are your own enemies."

Biyomon suddenly realized who they were talking to and ran to the front of the group, "Oh! I've heard of you! You're the famous Piximon, right?" As the pink bird was speaking, Mimi had moved over to the adorable little digimon that had apparently saved her friend and picked it up.

"You are?" Mimi asked, holding the little guy close like he was a stuffed toy.

"Piximon is famous in the Digital World for his skills in training!" Biyomon explained why she was so excited, "But few have ever met him! His secret home is the training ground for all the great digimon fighters!"

"And I've heard about all of you, too," Piximon told them, "But so far I am not impressed!" He pointed his spear at them, but it didn't really seem like a threat, more just for emphasis, "You eight are supposed to be the Digidestined. Ha! Better be more careful, or you'll end up Digi-dinners!" The kids that had crouched down to get a better view of him now stood to their feet, "Yup, Yup! Without my spear and my magic, Kuwagamon would be eating you with a side of Digi-fries!"

"But that's gross!" Mimi complained to the little thing she was holding, "Thanks a lot!"

"And that's not all!" Now he pointed the spear at their partners, "You digimon, there! You're supposed to be protecting these humans, but more often than not they end up protecting you! I want to see some guts! I want to see some courage!" The digimon's faces fell as they realized how true that was.

"This guy reminds me of a gym teacher I once had," Matt whispered to the other kids.

"Don't take it personally, Skymomon," Lucy said, "I think you've done a great job."

"He's right," Palmon said despondently, "We just don't have any guts."

"Aw," Gomamon said, falling into depression himself, "Don't we get points for enthusiasm?"

"The news isn't all bad," Piximon said, a light shining in his black, almond shaped eyes, "Yup, yup! From now on, you're all going to train with me!"

"But why?" Sora asked.

"Let's not go overboard, Piximon," Tentomon said, not sure he was tough enough for this training.

The pink ball ignored their questions and complaints and pointed to Tai and Agumon, "Especially you two guys!"

"Wha!?" Tai and Agumon balked.

"You heard me!" The little digimon flew in front of them, leaving Mimi's grip, "You two need lots of help, and I have a special, extreme training program, just for you!"

"Did I just hear him right?" Tai wondered.

"It sounds extreme," Agumon said, unsure if they were up to it.

"Yup!" The little digimon assured them that it would be tough, "Follow me!" He turned and walked in a certain direction, humming a beat to march to. The kids and digimon looked to one another, then shrugged. They honestly had nothing better to do. If this guy was really offering to train them, then they would at least benefit from the time spent in his company.

"I'm not really sure we should trust a ping pong ball with wings," Joe said, even though he still maintained a good pace next to the others.

"He did save Agumon and me," Tai said, "Why would he do that if he was no good?"

"Precisely," Izzy said, hefting his laptop pack over his shoulders and adjusting the strap for more comfort, "He didn't have a black gear anywhere on him. I checked."

"What do we have to lose?" Lucy asked, "If this guy can train us, maybe he'll know the proper way to unlock the power of the Crests."

"It's an honor to be chosen for training by Piximon," Biyomon told the group.

"It sounds like a whole lot of work to me," Mimi said.

"We could use the help, though," Sora said.

"How could you say that?" Tai asked the girl, "We've only been nearly eaten a hundred times."

"There are worse options," Matt pitched in.

"Would you all just hurry up!" Piximon yelled back at them, "This is no time to mosey about! Yup, yup!"

A short while later, the kids and digimon were still marching through the scorching hot desert. Even with the promise of training, the sun was still hot and the desert still harsh.

"Are we there yet?" Mimi whined.

"Just a little bit further," Piximon told them.

"He's seven times now," Joe was the next to file a complaint.

Matt nodded, "I think he's lost."

"So, what do we do?" Tai snarked, "Ask a cactus for directions?"

"Maybe this guy is nuts, and everyone just thinks he's a great trainer," Lucy suggested.

"I don't think so," Tentomon said, "He may be off his rocker, but he certainly took care of Kuwagamon easily enough."

"I guess you're right," the girl sighed, "but where is he taking us then?"

"That's a question better posed to Piximon, I would think," Izzy told her.

"Ice cream," Sora moaned, "Cold rootbeer."

"Stop that!" everyone but Piximon shouted at the girl.

"Halt!" Piximon called, "We have arrived! Yup!" the group stopped their trudging and, as one, looked up. The only thing they saw was more of the same.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked the little pink ball with wings, "There isn't anything here."

"I told you he was just crazy," Lucy said plaintively.

"Hmph!" The little digimon grunted before lifting into the air.

"_Pixie Portal!_" he twirled his spear rapidly in his hands until it was little more than a blur. He flipped around, from hand to hand, then held it in both hands again and lifted it above his head.

The group was then shocked to see a hole open in the air right in front of them leading to a forested area. Their combined gasps were heard.

"It's a hole in the desert!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Am I the only one who thinks this looks like trouble?" Joe asked.

"Actually," Piximon said as he landed again, "it's just my front door. Come on in, now. Quickly, before it closes! Yup, yup!"

The whole group looked to one another, then nodded. They moved as one into the area. Almost immediately, the temperature had gone down almost forty degrees, from one hundred ten to seventy eight. The hole closed behind them, but they could still see out into the desert.

"This is cool," Tai said after they'd walked in about twenty feet, "A jungle inside a desert."

"I bet you got lotsa friends who wanna play with you!" TK said with a grin on his face as he looked around the jungle.

"You should have seen it when I first got it," Piximon told him.

Sora paused for a moment, a feeling on the back of her neck causing her to turn around. What she saw sent chills down her spine.

"Heads up!" She called, "Look behind us, guys!"

"Oh, no! It's Etemon and his trailer!" Mimi cried.

Indeed. The sight of a Monochromon pulling a large metal trailer through the desert rather quickly greeted the eyes of the children.

"Oh boy! This is bad!" Joe panicked.

Piximon lifted into the air in front of the blue haired boy, "And right outside the front door, he is, too."

"Huh!?" Joe's eyes widened further as he realized the little digimon was right.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Piximon told him, "He isn't able to see through the barrier. He sees nothing but desert."

And again, it was completely true. The trailer just kept moving, not even slowing down to look at the kids hiding in a jungle in the middle of the desert.

+-9

When Etemon had set up the little ambush for the kids at his coliseum, he had never suspected it would turn out so bad for him. Heck, at the beginning there, he was sure to win. Then that Greymon grunger Digivolved into Skullgreymon and ruined everything. Even the Dark Network.

The monster's massive power had overloaded the network, shutting it down and making it so Etemon and his Gazimon were running all bu completely blind through the desert as they were looking for those kids.

"The screen's still broken! What's taken so long?" he demanded from his minions as he rocked from side to side.

"We've almost got it fixed, Etemon," one of the grey rabbits said as it typed away at the consoles in front of him, "no need for a conniption fit." The large screen in front of the three digimon riding in the trailer showed a topographical map on a dozen grids. Several of them were not working, only showing static and snow.

"I'll show you a conniption, you insolent little worms!" the evil digimon yelled, as he began to bounced angrily in his chair from foot to foot, "Get it fixed already! I have a show to get on!"

+-9

"Alright everybody, home, we are! My house is just up these steps!" Piximon had led them through the jungle quickly, right to his home. Like he said, there was a stairway. A long one.

Piximon's home was at the top of a mountain, and there were thousands and thousands of stairs that led up the front of them mountain. Along the path they could see Roman style structures and statues of digimon that they guessed were probably famous for one thing or another.

The kids stared with dawning distress at the monstrous task in front of them.

"We have to walk up there?" Joe asked incredulously.

"But I didn't bring my stair climbing sneakers," Mimi tried to reason with the little, pink digimon.

"I didn't bring my stair climbing _legs_," Lucy said next.

"Yeah," Tai chimed in, "and I just remembered, I'm afraid of heights."

"Purely from a logical standpoint, it doesn't look very safe," Izzy informed the digimon that would be their trainer.

"Is this part of our training?" Sora asked, hoping it was just something they could skip.

"Exactly!" Piximon dashed those hopes.

"Aw," the kids all groaned, sinking down to the ground.

"Hey, no sweat!" Tentomon said as he hovered in the air, "I'll just fly up there. And before you know it, I'll be chillin' by the pool while you guys are still-"

"And, oh, by the way," Piximon flew over to Tentomon, interrupting the bug, "did I mention that there will be absolutely no flying during any of my training?"

"Aw," Tentomon moaned his disapproval of that as he joined the others on the ground.

"Haven't you rookies learned that the easy way is sometimes a trap?" the pink trainer digimon demanded of them, "Now, let's move out!" The kids heaved a sigh, but obeyed. They had come this far, they might as well finish the trip.

The trek up the mountain would take hours. Honestly, it was faster than if there were no steps, easier too, but the shear number of stairs was still daunting.

"I guess Piximon never heard of elevators," Joe commented as he continued trudging up the steps.

They were beginning to near the top, but the whole group, digimon and kids alike, were exhausted. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, and they had been at it since late morning. Agumon and Tai were the leaders of the pack and they were panting with the effort it took to make it to the next step up the path.

"Don't tell me you're tired!" Piximon taunted them, "Don't give up yet! You see, you've almost arrived!" He pointed off to the top of the mountain.

The group paused, happy for the break, looking off in the direction he pointed.

"That's his place?" Joe questioned, looking at the humongous compound.

"That's it," Piximon said, "and there's plenty of food for all."

That brought the mood up. The kids began to grin hopefully while the digimon got a little extra hustle put in them. Poor Gomamon looked like he was gonna cry in happiness at the prospect of food after this little journey.

"Yum! Yeah!" The seal cried and began to hop forward. This was the signal to the rest of the group to start forward. They moved much quicker, though not quite running, eager to get to the building for some food and relaxation. They made it to the building and Piximon opened the front door for them, then lead them up more stairs till the reached the top floor of his home.

"What think you, is it as handsome as I am?" Piximon asked as the first thing anyone would see when walking around the inner tract of his home was a humongous statue of Piximon himself.

"You said something about food," Joe reminded the winged puff ball. He and the others could care less about a statue.

"Ah, yes," the digimon flew over to the kids, "but first, you must earn it."

"I should have known there'd be a catch," Gomamon heaved a great sigh.

Piximon began twirling his spear wickedly fast again until buckets of water with dish rags in them, "I want you all to scrub the floors. All the floors!" He pointed around his mansion. There were at least eight floors on the inner tract.

"You can't be serious!"

"Come on, Piximon!"

"You can't really expect that!"

The comments and complaints went on. Piximon ignored them all, simply expecting the job to be done. Then he singled out the wild haired leader of the group and his digimon partner.

"But not you, Agumon and Tai," he floated before the two, "Come now, I have a special chore for you." He began leaded back down the stairs.

"Great," Tai sighed, "we've probably got to paint the place."

"Well, let's do it," Sora said without any enthusiasm, a bucket in one hand. The others had their own buckets too.

"The last time I scrubbed a floor was... never!" Mimi exclaimed, looking quite pitiful as she carried a bucket in both hands.

"It's a simple task, Mimi, even you'll catch on," Izzy told the pampered girl. The group quickly got to work, scrubbing the floors and banisters and the doors, clearing them of any dust. They were doing a thorough job too. They didn't want Piximon to come back and tell them that it wasn't good enough.

"Is this really training," Matt wondered after a while, "or is this just Piximon's maid's day off and he doesn't like to vacuum?"

"No way," Lucy tried to reason, "Haven't you ever seen the Karate Kid? This is like some super secret training method that will make us super powerful."

"I don't know about that," Matt grumbled.

"Tokomon, Let's have a cleaning race!" TK suggested to his partner. The two of them had the rags on the floor right in front of them. They placed their hands and paws in front of them and TK started the race, "Ready, set, go!" He and Tokomon took off running, pushing the cloth along the ground with them. TK made race car noises as he did.

Matt couldn't stop a chuckle about how his little brother could turn almost anything into a fun game.

"See," Lucy said with a grin as she wiped off another window, "We should look at it like that. If we're having fun, we'll get it done in no time!"

"They do say that time flies when you're having fun," Sora said, beginning to smile.

"I believe I heard somewhere that it helps to pass the time if you whistle while you work," Izzy added in next, "It is certainly worth a try."

The others nodded, and slowly a tune began to form. It started out a little crazy at first, just a jumble of random notes.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Matt said, stopping the cacophony before it could get any worse, "Why don't we settle on a song before we all go deaf?" he stood up, "Here, try to copy me," he whistled a few notes slowly so that rest of the group could get it. He then motioned for them to try it.

They had only a couple hiccups before they got it right.

"Great, now, I'll lead, you guys follow, alright?" He grinned, "We'll sound pretty good before you know it!" He started in on a happy tune, taking them through it slowly, but speeding up as the group got better at copying him.

By the time they were really into it, it was pretty great sounding. The sun was also setting and they were beginning to lose the battle with their desire to sleep.

"Good!" Piximon said as he came back to look at their work so far, "You can start on the next floor tomorrow. For now, you can sleep in here," he opened a door for them into a room, just big enough for the kids to fall asleep in.

"What about dinner?" Lucy asked.

"Like I said, you've got to clean all the floor first, then you get your treat," Piximon said, "Use it as motivation."

The kids were too tired to complain so they just filed into the room, finding their own spots to curl up and catch some Z's. It wasn't long at all before the kids were sleeping rather peacefully.

"Mmm, what delicious food," Gomamon smiled and drooled in his sleep, "Mine all mine."

Izzy suddenly sat up, and by the look on his face, something important was on his mind, "Hmm... Huh?" He noticed Matt leaving the room. The older boy looked back at him and shushed him, holding a finger before his mouth to indicate silence. Izzy nodded and got up quietly, following the older boy out of the room.

"Something's wrong," Matt said as soon as the two of them were out of the room and the door had closed, "Tai and Agumon never came back."

"So what do you think happened?" Izzy asked the older boy.

Before either one could theorize on what happened to the two that were missing from their group, Matt's tag began to glow under his shirt. Izzy's soon followed suit and the two boys pulled the pendants into view and held them in their hands.

"You see that?" Matt asked the younger boy.

"Prodigious!" Izzy said in reply.

"When they glow it means a Crest is nearby," the blonde said.

"It certain has worked that way in the past," the tech genius agreed.

"C'mon, maybe we can find them before we get to bed," Matt led the way out of the mansion, using the pulsing light from his Tag to guide him. It ended up beginning to lead them down the steps again. Matt was somewhat less happy about that than he would have been if they could find them in the desert, but it wasn't enough of a deterrent for the boy to not chase down his Crest.

Izzy was somewhat less enthused, "Are you sure this is a good idea, Matt? I mean, maybe we should bring Tentomon and Gabumon-"

"Let 'em sleep," the older boy interrupted, "the Crests must be inside the barrier, so we're safe." He held out his tag before him again, holding it out before him and determining where to go based on how the light grew brighter or dimmed when he held it in certain directions, "Come on, Izzy! This way!" He began to run down the steps.

Neither of them noticed Piximon watching them go, the little creature sitting on one of the many statues of the digimon he'd trained to be powerful fighters.

+-9

Early the next morning, Piximon floated in the air outside the childrens' room. He had a pot in one hand, his spear in the other, and banged them mercilessly together, creating a noise loud enough to wake them all up.

"What is it?" Mimi mumbled as she stood up, "What's going on?"

"Maybe it's breakfast," Lucy hoped. The kids and digimon all walked out of the room, belatedly realizing that they were missing Tai and Agumon since last evening, but now Izzy and Matt as well.

"Rise and shine, everybody!" Piximon said annoyingly loud, "Everybody up! Come on, people!"

"Piximon, do you know where Izzy went? He's not in his bed," Tentomon said, sounding worried as he flew by the group.

"And I can't find Matt," Gabumon added.

TK pulled him self up so he could look at the pixy over the railing, "Hey, did you send my brother somewhere?"

"Your brother and his pal left to look for Crests about midnight," Piximon told them. They gasped in surprise. There were Crests here?

"Aw, I don't believe it. Why would Izzy leave me behind?" Tentomon whined.

Sora grinned a little mischieviously and leaned in to the known worry wart of the group with a too sweet smile on her face, "Don't you find it strange? First it's Agumon and Tai leaving, now Matt and Izzy are missing. Ever since we've met Piximon, people started disappearing."

Mimi caught on immediately and leaned over on the boy's other side, a similar look on her face, "That's right. Maybe next Joe will turn up missing."

The poor boy gulped fearfully, "Come on, you guys. It's not funny, stop fooling around."

Piximon watched the tomfoolery with a less than amused look on his face. They should be getting down to work.

"What if it's Piximon making everyone disappear?" Joe asked suddenly, jumping to the exact conclusion the girls wanted him to.

"Come on, Joe," Gomamon said, chuckling, "we can trust Piximon," He turned his grass green eyes on the flying, pink fluff ball, "Can't we?" The last part was said a little less sure than Joe would have liked to hear from his partner, "I mean, you wouldn't do anything really cruel, would you?"

"Like not feed us," Joe complained, noticing that the digimon still hadn't provided the food he'd promised the day before.

Piximon just sighed and tapped the top of his head with his spear, "Attention! Training will now begin!" He yelled to get them all to stop whining.

+-9

In the forest down below, the boys were still looking for their Crests. They hadn't had any luck so far, but that could change at any time.

"Why do you want to find a Crest, Izzy?" Matt asked, looking for something to talk about.

"I guess it's mostly just because of Kabuterimon," the boy said with a friendly grin, "I would like to see which stage he will Digivolve into after that one," Matt smiled a little at that answer. It was so like the computer genius that he had actually suspected it from the start, "Isn't that the reason you're looking for a Crest?"

Matt shook his head, "No," he said, halting for a moment, "I want to find the crest to Digivolve me."

"Oh?" Izzy asked, his curiosity clear on his face.

"Not into a digimon," Matt expanded on his answer, "But to make me stronger and smarter," he started walking again, "Maybe learn something new about myself. You know, to reach _my_ next level." As they spoke they approached the edge of the barrier. They could see a well on the other side, out in the desert.

"Mm-hm!" Izzy nodded, getting it, then gasped when he saw the desert before them.

"The barrier of this land," Matt breathed.

"Don't tell me we came all this way for nothing!" Izzy complained.

Matt frowned a little and looked at his Tag. It was still glowing, it had to be near hear somewhere.

"Wait!" The computer genius said, "Look at that glow!" he pointed out to the well, just on the other side of the barrier, "We made it! The Crests! The Crests have got to be right there, inside of the well," he grinned, "Let's go!"

"Yeah, but it's outside the wall," Matt said, not sure if they should, or even could, pass it without Pixymon.

"I know," Izzy said, following the purple glow of his own Tag, "but we're so close!" He walked right up to the barrier. He observed what he could of it from this side of the wall, but all he could see was where the forest floor ended and the sand began. "Hope my hand doesn't melt," He said softly as he reached up with his right hand and pushed it against the invisible wall.

Luckily, it passed through harmlessly. And the boy laughed in nervous relief as he pulled his hand back to see it in one piece.

"It's alright, Matt, we can go through it!" Izzy said, pointing to the well.

"Yeah," the older boy said with a grin, the prospect of actually being this close to his Crest beginning to cheer him up. He couldn't wait to tell TK.

They quickly stepped out of the barrier and over to the well. They ended up using the bucket rope to climb down the depressingly dry well. The glow coming from the well was a mix of purple and light blue, glowing incredibly bright.

"See anything?" Izzy asked Matt who was lower on the rope than he was.

"The light's bright down here," the blonde said, looking around. On one side of the walls he noticed what looked like a blue, Ying Yang symbol with the tail ends of each side extending outside of the circle, "Hey, we should hold our Tags up towards the wall."

"Good call," Izzy said, seeing a purple glowing rune that looked like a small circle connected to a bigger circle by a thin line.

The two boys did as Matt suggested. Almost immediately there was a reaction. The symbols pealed off the walls and began swirling around the two boys, glowing brighter and brighter until it was blinding. They were forced to close their eyes for a moment. When the light died down, each one of them had a Crest in their Tags.

"Man, this is happening!" Matt exclaimed, looking at his new Crest, "We both found our Crests!"

Izzy smiled at his, clutching it in his fist for a moment before tucking it back in his shirt.

Unnoticed by either boy, a black wire with a red camera on the end was peaking at them from the lip of the well. If you followed the wire it would go a few feet below the surface of the sand, connect to a massive network and lead back to a certain trailer owned by a wannabe rock star.

"Etemon," one of the Gazimon inside the trailer said, "We have contact in sector G-3, sir!" A blue circle drew itself on the map.

Etemon stood up with his shock, looking at the map as it finally came fully back on line.

"What!? That's the sector we just passed through!" he caught one of the Gazimon in a headlock, "Turn us around! Turn us around, you little whipper snapper! What are you waiting for?" He laughed maniacally as he looked at the map, "G-3 is Tyrannomon's territory! Send him at once! I love a roadie with a good appetite!"

Back at the well, the two boys were climbing out of the well just in time to see a gigantic, red dinosaur block out the sun just above them. It was about the size of Greymon, had green, stegosaurus style plates going down it's back, and green stripes all over it's body. Also, all over it's body, black wires from Etemon's Dark Network were plugged into it, controlling it.

It roared angrily, and Izzy and Matt made the most logical decision they could. They ran for their lives, screaming the whole way.

The boys made it into the barrier just in time to avoid being roasted by the fireball that the monster breathed at them, but the explosion knocked the kids rolling and broke the barrier, revealing the jungle to the giant monster. It looked like the air broke, and behind it was a lush forest.

The monster, Tyrannomon, approached the forest, tracking down the boys like Etemon had commanded. As he passed into the forest, one of the spike plates on his head brushed the top crack of the broken barrier. It created a tinkling sound that the monster didn't pay any attention to, just stomping its way into the forest.

+-9

Piximon's spear twirled through the air with great speed as usual, the nonlethal end smacking Matt's partner digimon. The poor digimon yelped, rubbing his head.

"No, Gabumon!" Piximon barked as he moved in front of the kids and digimon he was forcing to meditate, "Making funny faces wont defeat your enemies! You must always-My barrier has been broken!" The tinkling sound of the barrier breaking reached Piximon, even from where they were on the mountain. He ran off to deal with the problem.

"That's where Izzy went! He could be in trouble!" Tentomon exclaimed after the kids gasped at the news that the barrier had been breached.

"And Matt!" Gabumon cried out.

"We've got to help them!" the bug digimon decided. Everyone stood up and ran after the digimon that would be their trainer.

+-9

Back with Izzy and Matt, the two boys were still running for their lives from the larger than average dinosaur. It stalked through the dense jungle, occasionally breathing fiery blasts, hoping to hit the boys, but they always managed to run just out of his targeted area.

"Didn't I see this guy in one of my nightmares!?" Izzy cried as he ran like his shoes had wings.

"I wish you'd be more careful what you dream!" Matt quipped back to the younger boy, not slowing down in the slightest.

"Matt! Izzy! Over here!" Gabumon called as the group plus Piximon ran over to them.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Tentomon called out relieved.

The black wire from before moved through the forest, catching the meeting between all but on of the Digidestined and sending the data back to Etemon.

"Well, Isn't that nice," the evil digimon chuckled, "Everybody's all together now!" He grabbed his minion in a headlock as he chuckled at his good fortune, "You know, I can't resist an audience, so I guess it's showtime! Ahuhuh! Ahuhuh!"

The Gazimon got to work right away, setting it up so a hologram of Etemon over looked the battle, allowing him to hit the kids with his sound based attack. He strummed his guitar, playing the music that had sapped the energy from the digimon last time he had come face to face with the brats.

In the forest, Tentomon and Gabumon had just been about to Digivolve. Gabumon slumped forward suddenly, the energy draining away, and Tentomon just suddenly rolled over, stiff as a board.

"My power's been drained," Tentomon was barely able to speak.

"It zapped them!" Izzy exclaimed, "So, now they can't Digivolve!"

Tyrannomon took the opening presented to him by his boss, breathing another stream of fire at the children and their digimon. Piximon was there though, and he used his magic abilities to stop the fire from burning them to a crisp. But Tyrannomon didn't let up. Instead of breathng a single blast at them, he maintained the fiery onslaught in one long belch of flames.

"Anyone got any weenies to roast?" Lucy quipped as the group ducked away from the fire. Just because Piximon was keeping the flames from cooking them where they stood, it didn't mean they had to stand under the flames like fools.

"Tai! Agumon! What are you doing? Your friends are in trouble! You've got come back before it's too late! Tai, can you hear me!" Piximon shouted desperately, trying to reach the boy even in his secret training.

"Do you really think Tai can hear him?" TK asked.

"Maybe," Sora said, "He heard the barrier being broken, right, maybe he can project his voice to people when he needs to as well."

"I can't wait for Tai any longer," Piximon grunted under the onslaught of fiery doom, "He needs this lesson, but I've got to attack!"

"What lesson?" Joe asked, "What was Piximon teaching Tai that he wasn't teaching us? That's so not fair."

"I think he was teaching him to have confidence in himself," Sora told the blue haired boy, "Think about, back against Kuwagamon, Agumon could have taken care of that nasty bug easily if he'd Digivolved, but both Tai and Agumon didn't seem to want that to happen. Like they'd lost their confidence or something."

"I believe you may be right," Izzy nodded to the girl, "In that case, I hope he regains his confidence soon."

"Everyone, stand back!" Piximon said, getting ready to lower his shield. The kids all ran to the back of the shielded area, dreading the split second between Piximon dropping the shield and ending the problem. If the pink little guy didn't do it just right, they'd all be roasted.

And it turned out he didn't need to. Greymon appeared in the forest. Unlike when he fought against Etemon's Greymon, Tai's digimon was up ready to go, his full faculties returned to him. He knocked Tyrannomon off his feet with a tackle, stopping only to roar his triumph over the beast.

"Hey, he Digivolved!" Gabumon pointed out.

"Yay!" Tokomon cried happily from the top of TK's head.

"Looks like he got his confidence back!" Lucy said with a grin. She was glad to see Greymon, her fear of what he could turn into fading. The warmth in her chest was fighting back that cold fear actively when she noticed the orange dinosaur was back to himself. He may have even been a little stronger than before.

"_Nova Blast!_" Greymon roared, sending his own fireball at the wires producing the hologram of Etemon, giving the digimon the ability to Digivolve again, should it be needed.

"You made it!" Sora exclaimed as Tai walked up beside her.

He grinned at her, "Yeah!" The two of them turned back to the battle though, not wanting to miss Greymon's big comeback match.

The orange dinosaur made his way to the fallen Tyrannomon and grabbed him by the shoulders. He began to lift the monster into the air, pulling the black wires taught. He struggled a little more until some of them began to snap. Each one that did allowed Greymon to lift the enemy digimon higher into the air.

"He's pulling those cables out!" Sora pointed out to the others.

"Get him, Greymon!" Gomamon cheered, "Go, go!"

"Flip him like a coin, big guy!" Skymomon shouted her encouragement to the orange dinosaur.

Eventually all the wire had snapped, and Greymon was holding Tyrannomon upside down on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a second before Greymon fell backwards, body slamming the enemy digimon. Almost immediately, the wires of Etemon's dark network began to fracture and disintegrate visibly, even from the distance the kids were standing from the fight.

"He did it. Greymon did it!" Tai pumped his fist high into the air.

"Look at the black cables!" Sora said, pointing into the air, "They're all shattering into pieces!"

Greymon stood up, whereas Tyrannomon was out cold, and roared again, louder than ever. He was back, stronger than before, and ready to protect his partner and all their friends the moment they needed it. His roar was heard all throughout Piximon's demesnes. He was _back!_

The kids and their digimon cheered loudly and energetically.

'_Well, they cut it kind of close, but they did it. Yup, yup!_' Piximon thought, a small smile on his face.

+-9

Later that day, after the time it took to get their stuff from the room they stayed in, the children were preparing to leave. Lucy wasn't entirely sure if the chores they did were any kind of secret training or not, but whatever he did for Tai had worked wonders, so maybe it was.

"Thank you, Piximon," Matt said as the stood at the stairs of the mountain, ready to descend, "We've learned a lot from you."

"Yeah, like how to scrub floors and starve half to death," Joe complained lowly.

But not low enough, Mimi heard him, "Joe!" she turned to Piximon, "That's just Joe's stomach talking."

"Far from over, your training is," Piximon told them, not taking what the blue haired boy said personally, "But remember, life itself is a training session. Learn all you can."

"Right!" Tai and Agumon said to the flying digimon trainer.

The kids said their various thanks as they left till it was only Lucy and Skymomon.

"Yes, Lucy, what is it?" Piximon asked, floating down to look the little girl in the face.

"What do you know about a man named Gennai?" She asked.

"Hmm, Gennai?" He put a hand to his chin, looking to the sky, "Not a lot, I'm afraid. I just know that he is doing very much to protect the Digiworld. He's devoted his life to it. Yup, yup!"

Lucy sighed, disappointed. She guessed it was too much to ask for to get his address or something.

"Sorry am I, that did not help," the pink digimon said.

"It's okay. I have a feeling we'll meet him eventually, there are just some questions only he can answer for me," She looked up with a grin and picked up Skymomon as she got ready to join the others, "Thanks for what you could tell me, and thanks for the training too. I might not have understood all of it, but I'm sure it will come in handy!" she turned and ran off.

Piximon smiled a little bit at that, watching the children leave his domain, '_I guess they really are the Digidestined. Yup, yup! No doubt, have I. For, though they are sometimes foolish, have seen the love in their hearts. With a little luck, they just may succeed and save our Digital World!_'

Chapter Fifteen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	16. Chapter 16 The Prisoner of The Pyramid

Chapter Sixteen: The Prisoner of The Pyramid

Lucy was beginning to grow tired of all this sand, heat and lack of anything else. It had been a brief respite a couple days ago at Piximon's place, but it was over depressingly quick. Etemon, even if he hadn't physically been there, now knew where the place was. They had to go before he showed up.

Luckily for them, this massive desert was dotted with the occasional oasis. That and the fact that Piximon actually had provided food stores before they left. Joe had been complaining about having nothing to eat even after the training was over, then reached into his bag, hoping to find a crumb, only to find a bit more than that. It was a very pleasant surprise.

For Lucy though, she really wished Etemon would just take a break or something for a few days. It was beginning to dampen her mood with all this heat and sand and evil digimon attacks.

"What are you thinking about, Lucy?" Skymomon asked as the group trudged along through some rather large dunes.

"Well," the girl sighed, "I was thinking that I could really do with a scenery change, you know? A vast forest seems like just the thing we need right now."

"Yeah, I agree," the little blue monkey said, "It'd be great to be able to relax in a nice big tree again."

"I wonder how far it is to the next one," Lucy wondered aloud.

"It is most probably very far from here," Tentomon said as he joined the conversation.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lucy said with a grumble, "What about the next oasis? I could use a break."

"I completely agree," Tentomon nodded, "I'll see if I can find any," he unfurled his insectoid wings and lifted into the air. He flew nearly a hundred feet up, looking all around for any sign of the desired watering hole.

"I can check too!" Skymomon exclaimed, lifting into the air as well. Like all the others that could fly, Skymomon couldn't really compete with Tentomon for smoothness and control. But Skymomon did have one good side to her lack of control. She was faster. Sure, hovering for Skymomon looked more like she was bouncing in the air as her wings struggled to keep her in one place, but when it came to speed, the little monkey could beat them all in the race.

What took Tentomon a few seconds to do, took half that for Skymomon.

"Hmm," the bug digimon sighed after a moment, "I don't see anything but more sand."

"Yeah," Skymomon drooped from her place in the air as she scanned the horizon for anything that could be an oasis. Far off to the north, she spotted a little speck of something, "Hey, what's that?" she pointed it out to Tentomon.

"I don't know. It doesn't appear to be moving towards us," the bug digimon looked at the little dot of disruption, "We should inform our partners that we spotted something." He began to drift back down to the ground.

Skymomon dived the first forty or so feet, then beat her wings extra hard, just to stay aloft. It wasn't the smoothest landing, but it got the job done.

"Did you find anything?" Lucy asked hopefully. The other kids and digimon were waiting for news as well. They had stopped when the partners of Lucy and Izzy had taken to the air.

"I'm hoping for a hotel. Five stars, please," Mimi said.

"I'd be cool with anything that had a swimming pool," Matt told them.

"We're not sure what it is, but there is something in that direction," Tentomon said, pointing to the north with one claw.

"I wonder what it could be," Izzy said, looking off in that direction, but unable to see anything at this height.

"Who knows," Tai said, "but since we have nothing better to do, let's go check it out!" He started leading that way. Agumon was of course on his heel.

"It might even be some place we can rest," Sora said, walking after the wild haired boy with Biyomon on her left.

The rest of the group was soon to follow. After a while without spotting anything for themselves, the children began to doubt they were even heading in the right direction.

"Are you sure it wasn't another Mirage?" Joe asked, somewhat impatiently.

"I suppose it could have been," Tentomon admitted.

"Oh, that's just great," Joe gave, "We're being led through the desert by a bug that's seeing things. This can't end well."

"Hey," Gomamon said from the sand next to the oldest boy, "Don't worry about it. If nothing else, we're having an interesting trip, right Joe?"

"Yeah, interesting," he grumbled, "We're being chased by a rock star in a monkey suit who's trying to solve my allergy problem in the most severe way possible, has tons of minions with an emphasis on dinosaurs that can breathe fire and we're stuck in a desert that is who knows how large. Interesting is certainly one way to describe this."

"How's this for interesting?" Lucy said, pulling her Tag from the inside of her sleeveless hoodie. It was glowing with a white light, pulsing brighter, the further they went towards whatever it was that Skymomon and Tentomon had seen. "I think you two may have found my Crest."

"Alright!" Tai said, "Let's put on some hustle everyone!"

The kids did put on a little speed then, enough so that they were walking noticeably faster, but noone wanted to run through the desert right then.

"Whoa," Izzy said, "Look, black cables." Strewn through the sands, apparently going in the direction they were, were three or four black wires, all about half as thick as the childrens' wrists.

"What do you think it is?" TK asked.

"Maybe they are leading us to a terminal of some kind," Izzy suggested, "Lucy, do you think your crest is nearby? Perhaps after we locate your Crest, we can return to this area."

"What for?" Matt questioned the computer genius, "I'd rather not be around this stuff for any longer than necessary. Every time we are, Etemon shows up."

"Exactly," the spiky red head grinned, "If we can examine Etemon's network, we might be able to shut it down."

"Sounds good to me. Anything to give that horrible digimon a bad hair day," Mimi said, agreeing to the plan.

"In answer to your earlier question, Izzy, I think it's close," Lucy said, not looking at the glowing Tag. She pointed forward, all the kids turned to see what looked like a giant, grey brick. The black wires were going up it and converging somewhere at the top. On one side of the brick was a glyphic flame etched into it.

Lucy's Tag seemed to react to the brick, so she moved forward, holding the pendant out before her. The brick began to glow a matching white color to the Tag and it began to shrink. It went from being a fifteen foot high, grey rectangle, to the size of the usual Crest that the other kids had found. The small, white plaque drifted through the air till it slid itself into Lucy's Tag, completing hers.

"Alright, Lucy!" Tai said, "Welcome to the Crest club."

"What's yours?" TK asked, looking at the white crest with the flame symbol.

Lucy tilted her head to one side as she felt the warm in her chest pulse greatly, "Faith. The Crest of Faith."

"That makes the ones we've gathered so far the Crests of Courage, Reliability, Sincerity, Friendship, Knowledge, and Faith. There must be a pattern to this," Izzy said, mostly to himself.

"Well," Lucy grinned, turning to face the tech genius, "would you rather focus on that, or what my Crest revealed?" She stepped to one side, showing a silver box on the ground that stood a little taller than TK. The black cables led into the box and it had ports and wires for connecting a computer to it.

"Prodigious," Izzy breathed as he approached the terminal. It took him only a few moments to figure the machine out.

"What is it, Izzy?" Tai asked, "Some kind of power generator?"

"Even better," the boy said, "Etemon has hardwired the entire desert, creating an extensive computer network. My guess? This is one of his remote data access terminals."

"Great," Tai said, not really understanding the importance of this find, "let's crash it."

"It could be a booby trap," Sora warned against Tai's idea.

"If it is Etemon's," Matt began, "I say we cross the wires and mess it up good!"

Izzy meanwhile had pulled out his lap top, setting it on the top of the terminal. He turned it on as he found a wire that matched one of the ports on his computer. He unplugged it from Etemon's terminal and pressed it into the slot on his computer.

"What are you going to do with that?" Tentomon asked when he saw the genius pull the wire free.

"I wonder," he said as information streamed in from the network, "It's entirely possible that our computers have compatible systems. And if they do, I can tap into Etemon's network!" He began typing away on his computer, beginning to decipher the web of white lines connecting to white rectangles, all over the window on his computer.

"Hey, you have mail," TK pointed out.

"That was quick," Izzy commented, "Who even knows I've logged on?"

"Oh no, it's Etemon!" Joe quailed.

"Open it," Tai suggested, "It's probably just spam."

"Right," Izzy said. Hardly ever had anything been as it seemed since they first entered this world. Regardless, the boy opened the e-mail.

Immediately, a high, British accented voice came from his computer, "Help me! S.O.S.! Mayday! I'm being held prisoner! Help me escape, and I'll guide you to the Crest you seek!"

The group gasped, hearing this. This thing knew who they were, knew what they were after. This was more than a little odd.

"Do you think he's for real?" Sora asked, "I mean, who could it be?"

+-9

Meanwhile, far away in a familiar silver trailer, a certain evil digimon rocker was having troubles again.

"What do you mean, the systems down?" He whirled to glare at his minions, "I don't want to hear any excuses! I want those stinkin' kids located now!" The grid map behind him was a blank, tan screen, with only a few red dots on it. He didn't know what was wrong, but somebody was gonna fix it or there would be pain in the future of the Gazimon.

"Yes, oh mighty Etemon, sir," one of the grey rabbits cowered, "most majestic, royal one."

"The problem is we got a glitch at the pyramid host computer," the other one said, having quickly tracked down the tangle in the wires.

Etemon grit his teeth for a moment, realizing who was to blame for his technical difficulties, "Datamon?" He turned his glare on his minions, "Get me there in a hurry, you floppy eared little freaks! Let's roll!"

"Yes, sir!" They both snapped to attention and went to go get the Monochromon moving.

+-9

Back with the kids, they had not been idle. The email from the person asking for help had led them into a large canyon. The walls had been smoothed down by thousands of years of sand blasting, every time a sand storm blew through.

"Oh man, I don't like this!" Joe said, making sure his opinion was known, "I don't like this one little bit. I don't like the look of it, I don't like the smell of it. I don't like the-"

"Don't have a brain cramp, Joe," Mimi said to the boy as the canyon narrowed in front of them, "You're turning green around the edges."

"Yeah, somebody asked for our help," Tai said as he walked along behind Izzy, "We've got to at least check it out, right?"

"According to my laptop, we should getting close," Izzy informed the group.

Towards the back of the procession, Sora and TK were holding their Tags in their hands. Over the course of their journey through Server, they had realized that the Crests could be anywhere. Heck, just a little while ago, they'd found Lucy's under Etemon's data terminal, and Matt and Izzy's had been found down in a well. If their Crests were nearby, they wanted to know about it.

And as luck would have it, TK's began to glow with a yellow light.

"Hey, look!" the boy said. Matt, as usual was right beside him, so was the first to notice.

"It's glowing!" the older blonde exclaimed. Tokomon's ears suddenly lifted and twitched, and the little guy turned around to look for what it was he sensed. He bounded off a few steps, looking into and off shoot on the canyon floor.

"TK, come over here!" he called, "Look what I found!" the entire group, not just TK, came over to look at what the shark toothed little digimon found.

There, on a portion of the canyon wall, was a slate of mismatched stone. It had on it what looked like a sun shooting down a wide beam of light.

"Look!" Sora exclaimed, "Another Crest!" The kids all ran forward then, TK at the front, holding out his Tag until they were standing right in front of it. Finally, the slate began to glow with blinding intensity, causing all the kids to shield their eyes. When the light receded, the yellow Crest floated forward through the air and slid into TK's tag.

"Awesome! My own Crest!" he said as he stared at the yellow symbol of the sun shining down.

"Congratulations!" Tokomon said with a smile.

"Now, TK, don't think this means you get to stay up any later," his older brother informed him.

"Sora's crest is the only one left to find," Izzy said, looking at his computer again, "Maybe if we rescue this guy, he can lead us to it."

"Well, what are we waiting for? To the rescue!" He pumped one fist high into the air and intoned the them for the cavalry.

"What's that?" Mimi asked suddenly, pointing to the cave that had been opened by the discovery of the Crest of Hope. The kids turned to look, wondering if the Crest had opened a door way to another area like Tai's had done.

As they moved inside the cave they noticed familiar symbols on the walls and ceiling. Izzy's enthusiasm grew as he saw more and more of the code.

"See these hieroglyphs?" he asked, already typing on his computer and entering the data as they walked, "Look familiar?" He pulled up the symbols he'd written down on his computer and looked between the two sets of symbols, "This is definitely they same type of writing we've come across before." He looked all around before he spotted an anomaly, "Wait a second, this is a new one." He walked up to the wall and, with one hand, erased the majority of the symbol.

Almost instantly, the cave lit up like it was the hallway of a building. The kids gasped in wonder as they looked around the artificial cave in wonder.

"Prodigious!" the computer genius exclaimed, "This is amazing! Do you know what I'm thinking?"

"I've got a feeling you're going to tell us," Mimi said with an amused smile.

"Well, you see, it's quite possible that these hieroglyphs are not a form of writing at all," he said, "but a form of code. Computer code. If you change a piece of the code, then you change the program." He demonstrated this by erasing a piece of another symbol. Doing so caused a holographic rectangle to appear in the air to the left of the group.

"Okay," Lucy said, looking up at the hologram, "I am officially impressed, Izzy."

"Wait, back up," Joe pleaded, putting a hand to his head and trying to connect the dots here, "Are you trying to tell us that this whole place is some kind of giant computer game? That none of it is really real?"

"Oh, it's real alright," Izzy said as his eyes tracked the lines of code on his computer screen.

"Huh?" was the thought going through everyone's mind.

"You know," he turned to face the group, "I'm thinking that everything we see, and everybody we meet, in this place are actually pieces of data or programming, given physical form!"

"Now, wait a minute," Matt said before the boy could go on a long lecture about the world at large, "If you're right, and this whole thing is one big computer, then how did we get here? Did we squeeze in through the floppy drive?"

"No," Izzy chuckled at the mere thought, "We're just kilobytes of data, too. I mean, the versions of us that are in here."

"If I'm just data, why do I still feel like I'm flesh and blood?" Tai asked.

Mimi nodded next to him, "And I still have to go to the little girls room."

"You don't, really," Izzy told the girl, "You just think you have to."

"Oh, well, I hope you're right, 'cause-"

"Where's the real us?" Matt interrupted the girl, not needing to hear anything more about that, "Our flesh and blood bodies."

"I don't know. I suppose we're back at the camp grounds, still," the spiky red head informed them.

"Really?" Lucy asked. Did that mean that she wasn't really there? That she hadn't actually reached the world that was her real home yet, only her consciousness had?

"Yeah," Izzy breathed with excitement, "We're alive back there! We exist simultaneously with our other selves! We're in a parallel, digital universe, like the digimon!"

"Does that mean I don't have to worry about brushing my teeth anymore?" TK asked.

"We've got bigger things to worry about now, TK," the tech expert informed the youngest of the group.

"Although, do us all a favor, and don't stop brushing," Matt told his little brother with his fists resting on his hips.

"Yeah," Izzy chuckled, "Please," he turned his gaze back to his computer, looking at the lines of code and data to see what else he could decipher, "Hey! Wait a second, I've got an idea! Let me see... If I can just crack this program..." He started typing again, putting the data on the walls into his computer so that it would be in a form he could more easily understand it. His fingers flew over the keyboard. It was quite the sight to see.

Mimi recognized what was happening, "Uh-oh, he's gone into computer dark mode. This could take a while."

As it turns out, the girl was wrong. A few seconds later, the rectangle in the air curled in on itself, bringing turning into a sphere. It colored itself in whites and greys, making it look like an atlas.

"Whoa," the whole group said.

"I've called up a holographic map of the Digiworld. You can see how similar it is to the planet Earth," Izzy began to explain, "In fact, there are a lot of parallels with our world." Images of File Island and the continent of Server flashed into the air before the atlas, shrinking into the holographic map.

"That's terrific, Izzy," Matt sighed, "Great time for a geography lesson."

"Pay attention and you might learn something," Izzy quipped back as he continued to type on his computer.

"Yeah?" the blonde asked, looking towards the younger boy.

"If I upload the e-mail address of the person who contacted us, I can find his location in the Digiworld, here," as he said this, a red dot began flashing on the atlas floating in the air, "Now, look. That e-mail address is from a web domain in our world. I've logged onto it a thousand times."

"Is there a point to this somewhere?" Tai asked, growing more and more impatient.

"Is the person who sent the message in our world or the Digiworld?" Sora queried.

"That's just the thing. He's in both. Look," another atlas appeared in the air, this one looking like the earth, "On the left is the Digiworld, the world we know is on the right," white lines covered each of the spheres, "and if I over lay them like so..." The two spheres moved into one another till they were perfectly combined.

"The white lines match up perfectly," Sora commented, "What does it mean?"

"Kind of reminds me of the ball of yarn my kitty used to play with," Mimi began gush again, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes at the lost pet.

"Is it the networks? The internet lines?" Lucy asked.

"Exactly!" Izzy said, "Through those lines, every computer on earth is connected to every other computer. The Digiworld world is the physical embodiment of the data passing through them," the entire group was slack jawed, "Guys, we're seeing something nobody else has ever seen, that nobody even knows about! The digital shadow world that exists along side our own. And they're not just parallel, they're physically linked. So, anything we do here, will have effects on the other."

"For real?" Matt asked, looking up at the hologram.

"Intense," Joe breathed.

"Yeah, and here's the coolest part," Izzy said with a grin, "Wherever this person is in the Digiworld, I think I can take us there just by entering the e-mail address and clicking it. Like accessing a web page!"

"Hey!" TK said, having been lost by the techno-babble a long time ago, "All this techno talk is makin' my head spinny!"

"Computer guys can never just do something, TK," Matt said as he came over to his brother, "That's too easy. They gotta spend all day telling you _how_ they'll do it."

Joe had crouched down, "This is depressing. Even when I'm computer data, I have allergies."

"Look on the bright side, Joe. If you weren't here, you never would have met me," Gomamon said, placing a flipper on the blue haired boy's back. Joe gave him a look that seemed to be deciding whether that would be a good or bad thing.

"Sora," Biyomon said plaintively, "Does this mean that we don't exist? That we're really not friends?"

"Of course not!" Sora told the little pink bird, "This may be a make believe world, but that doesn't mean our friendship isn't real. Truthfully, I don't get it, but it sounds right."

"I know this world is real," Lucy said, placing her hand on her chest to feel the warmth there again, "I believe in that over everything else."

"I believe it, too," Skymomon said in support of her partner.

"Oh well!" Tai said, one hand on his hip, "Wherever we are, we're still here, so let's figure out what we're gonna do next!" he turned to Izzy, "C'mon, brainiac, what are you waiting for?"

The boy in question was already typing on his keyboard again, working to create a solution for where they should go, "Okay, okay! All I have to do is click on the guy's e-mail address and then, Bingo!" He did it as he said it, the maps beginning to disappear.

"I hate Bingo!" Mimi said vehemently, "It's so confusing with all those different letters and num-" she cut herself off when the wall at the back of the artificial cave opened up to show sunlight, "Hey! Look, a door!"

"Whoa," Lucy gasped, "You the man, Izzy!"

"Alright!" Tai said, "Last one through's a rotten egg!"

"Our electronic pen pal is right out there," Izzy told them, though he was a little apprehensive about what they might find.

"Or it could be a trap," Sora deduced. She remembered that they'd only gotten that message once Izzy had connected to Etemon's network.

"No way!" the tech genius said, "We're just bits of data, so I uploaded us as file attachments and-"

"Okay, okay," Sora said, cutting off another stream of computer related babble that she wouldn't really understand, "I believe you." Finally the kids walked forward, none of them running despite Tai's declaration of a race.

They found themselves standing in the mouth of a large sphinx statue, and off to one side, little over two hundred yards away, was an upside down pyramid sticking out of the sand.

"Well, there goes my hope that we'd find a jungle at the other end of the tunnel," Lucy complained.

"Whoa! Check this out!" Tai said, pointing out the pyramid off to the left. He leaned out of the mouth and pulled his scope from his pocket, holding it to one eye, "Heads up! Etemon at nine o'clock!"

Indeed it was, his trailer was approaching the Pyramid rather quickly. The side popped open as it rolled to a stop and the dark digi-rocker hopped out, stalking towards the pyramid.

"That's it! It's the dumpster for you, Datamon, you old pile o' junk!" he grumbled as he approached the structure. The entrance was flanked by his Gazimon lackeys as usual.

"Uh, I think I left the water running back at the sphinx," Joe said, backing away from the opening so there was no chance he'd be seen by the evil digimon. The other kids followed his lead, filing back into the cave.

+-9

Later that night, most of the kids were asleep in the cave. As had become the norm, they had set up watch rotations. Currently it was Tai's watch, so he was sitting up with Agumon, staring at rocks from their place next to a fire.

Luckily, their turn was soon to end, and Sora's was about to begin. The girl in question and her partner digimon wandered out of the cave.

"Okay, Tai," Sora said, "You're relieved."

"It's our turn to stand watch," Biyomon told the boy and his digimon.

"Finally," Agumon sighed gratefully, "It's not much fun watching a bunch of rocks," the dinosaur yawned, "Good night."

"I thought being in a computer, cartoon adventure would be more fun than this," Tai complained, stretching his arms out as he headed for the cave.

"About tomorrow," Sora said, stopping him.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm worried. That Etemon is bad news," she said, "Is it really worth it? Just to find my Crest?"

"Sure!" He smiled putting his arms behind his head, "Don't worry, Sora, piece of cake! I'm looking forward to spinning that ugly monkey around by his tail!" He laughed.

Sora wasn't nearly as confident about their chances. If Etemon caught wind of them being in his base, there was no way they could stop him. He'd wipe the floor with them, not even pausing to clean up the mess he'd no doubt make.

"Hey, come on! Snap out of it!" the boy said.

"Huh?" she looked up, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Look," Tai said, "If it was my Crest, or TK's or anyone else's we were going after, you know you wouldn't hesitate for a second," he told her.

"Maybe you're right," She closed her eyes and shook her head, "It's just, after what Izzy said..." she trailed off.

"What?" the boy asked, "You mean all that stuff about us being nothing but little kilobytes in the great computer program of life?"

"It just makes us seem so small and insignificant," Sora said, "Like nothing we do really even matters."

"Of course it matters," Tai told her simply, "We can't take the chance that it doesn't."

+-9

The next morning, Sora had cornered Izzy while everyone else was getting ready to go into the pyramid.

"Remember," he said, "there's one thing that's important to keep in mind. This is more than a parallel universe. It's a shadow world, physically linked to our own. And anything that happens here, in the Digiworld, can have a direct effect on the things in the other."

"Then," she began, connecting the information together, "the same thing goes for us, right? We're shadow versions of out other selves!"

"Right," Izzy told her, "Exact, computer copies."

"So, whatever happens, we still have to be just as careful as if we were our physical selves," the girl reasoned.

"Hey!" Tai called from deep within the cave, "Some time this year! Man, you guys talk more than my mom's book club. Can we go?" You could hear how anxious he was to get it all over and done with.

"Alright," Sora said, placating the boy as she and Izzy quickly made their way into the cave. Once they reached the back, Izzy worked his magic again, reopening the gateway to the pyramid.

"So how are we doing this?" Lucy asked, "Are we all going to try to sneak in?"

In response, Izzy opened his lap top as they stood in the mouth of the sphinx. He was able to pull up a map of the pyramid. From the image on his computer, it wasn't just one pyramid. It was two. The other one was underground, connected to the one up top.

"I got into the program and found the most direct route to the center of the pyramid," Izzy said, "I believe it would be easier to succeed if we went in a small team, leaving the others here for back up should something go wrong.

"Okay now," Joe said, "Let's get this straight. We're only going in there to find this guy and get Sora her crest, right?"

"Right!" Tai said with a grin.

"That means no fights, or adventures, or dangerous stuff," Joe clarified.

Tai frowned, "You whimper more than my puppy," he turned his eyes on the full group and picked the best group to follow him, "Matt, Mimi, TK, Lucy, you stand guard. The rest of us will go in."

"If you really don't think you need me..." Mimi said, glad not to have to argue against going in the pyramid. She wasn't sure she'd make a good enough case like Joe or Matt would.

"I'm missing you guys already," Palmon said.

"We'll be back in time to eat," Gomamon said reassuringly.

"Or get eaten!" Tai joked, then jumped down out of the mouth. Izzy, Sora, Joe and their digimon followed soon after. They sneaked around to the other side of the sphinx, so they wouldn't be visible from the main entrance, then approached the Pyramid.

"Well," Lucy sighed, sitting down at the edge of the cage and kicking her legs out, "This will be a fun time."

"Don't get complacent," Matt said, watching the building vigilantly, "Something could go wrong at any moment and they might need our help."

"Oh, don't be such a downer," Mimi said, waving away Matt's concerns as she moved over next to the only other girl in the group aside from Sora and her, "Lucy, is your hair color natural?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I, uhm, I get it from my parents. My _real_ parents."

"You were adopted?" TK asked.

"Yeah," She nodded, "I don't mind, though. I couldn't ask for a better mom or dad. They love me like I'm theirs. I wouldn't have ever known if I hadn't found the papers."

"So that's why you asked Gennai if he knew your parents," Matt said, "Do you think they come from this world?"

"I'm beginning to think so," she nodded.

"Well, all that aside," Mimi said after a few seconds of silence, "Would you mind if I tried to style your hair while we wait?" she asked the pink haired girl, "I just love the color and would be so very grateful if you'd let me play with it."

Lucy shrugged, but then smiled as she pulled her hair out of her bun, "Sure, we've got some free time, go right ahead." Her hair, when not in it's bun, came down a little past her shoulders.

Mimi clapped gleefully, and began to play with the girl's hair, just like she said. She tried braiding it, but decided that didn't look right for the color. Then she tried pulling it into a pony tail, but that wasn't quite right either, or so she thought. Lucy's hair needed a style that really showed off the color and made it pop.

"Oh, I know!" The older girl exclaimed, "Let's try this!" She pulled the girl up into a bun again, but this time pulled a few strands out here and their to make it look like the hair was fanning out behind her head, "There! Le magnifique! What do you think?" She passed the younger girl a small hand mirror from her leather bag.

Lucy took the mirror and looked at the do Mimi had given her, "Wow, Mimi, you've got some real talent in the hair department. You're hired," she finished jokingly.

"It's my dream to go into fashion," Mimi said with a proud smile as she sat next to the younger girl, "I hope someday I can design my own clothing."

"I bet you could do it, right guys?" Palmon said.

TK nodded enthusiastically. He personally didn't know anything about fashion, but he was eight. He just knew that, if you worked at it, dreams could come true.

Matt nodded, but it seemed less sincere as he was still staring at the pyramid with a critical eye.

Skymomon, Gabumon, and Tokomon however thought that the girl was talented.

"Could you do my hair next?" Skymomon asked.

"Sure!" Mimi grinned, "I'd be happy to!"

Before she could, however, something happened. The ground in front of the pyramid rumbled for a moment then pulsed upwards for a brief second before it turned into a fiery explosion.

"The beauty treatments will have to wait!" Matt shouted as he and Gabumon were already jumping out of the sphinx, "Mimi, come with me! Lucy, protect TK!"

"Got it!" The girl said. She and Skymomon hopped to their feet to be ready to fight at a moments notice if they needed it. She watched as Gabumon and Palmon Digivolved into Garurumon and Togemon. She saw as the opened up the hole from the explosion even further. She heard the struggle that happened below. She saw as Togemon, Mimi, Agumon, Tai, Tentomon, Izzy, Matt and finally Gabumon finally climbed out of the hole in the ground and sprinted for the sphinx. But something was wrong.

"Where's Sora?" Lucy asked as they ran over to her. No one answered for the moment, they just piled into the sphinx and Izzy closed the opening before Etemon could follow them, "C'mon you guys! Where's Sora and Biyomon?"

"She was taken captive by Datamon," Izzy breathed as they collapsed by the entrance to the artificial cave, "He tricked us. Etemon did capture him and force him to work his network, but Datamon wasn't exactly innocent either."

"It's my fault," Tai breathed, staring at his hands.

"No, it wasn't, Tai," Joe said, "Who could have guessed Datamon would be a bad guy?"

"That's not it!" Tai snapped, crouching down, wrapping his arms around his knees and hiding his face, "I treated like a game! I didn't think any of it mattered! And the moment I find out that it does, right when Sora needed me most, I froze! I was too scared to help her!" They could hear the sobs coming from the boy, "I could have done something, anything, but I was just too scared! It' all my fault!"

The kids and digimon stood around Tai as he said this, not sure what to say to placate him, make him feel better. None until Lucy that is.

She walked up to Tai and pushed him onto his back roughly, a glare on her face. The rest of the group gasped in shock.

"Wha-Hey!" Tai said, getting back up quickly to see Izzy and Joe holding the girl back from the boy, "What was that for!?" You could still see the tear tracks in his eyes.

"What's your problem?" Lucy yelled at him, wrestling out of the grip of the two boys, but not moving forward to hit Tai again.

"That's my question!" Tai shouted right back.

"Think about it, you goggle brain! So you figured out that if you get hurt here you get hurt there? So what! That's nothing different from how we all thought about this world until yesterday. You were perfectly fine staring down the enemy then, so what's changed?"

The kids looked from Lucy to Tai, wondering what the boy's answer would be. He was just glaring at the girl and continued to do that for a few moments before his eyes fell to the ground. The tears began to gather again as he realized that he was just being weak.

"You're right," he said, "I've faced down the danger of this place hundreds of times now, but..." he wiped his eyes with one hand, "I just... I was so afraid. So afraid that I might die. That Sora might die if I messed up."

Lucy moved forward again, this time hugging him instead of shoving him, "Then the answer is simple," she told him as she rubbed his back like her mother did when she felt sad or depressed.

"What?" Tai asked, letting the girl hug him.

"Don't mess up. Listen to Izzy when he knows something you don't, let Matt go first when he can do it better," she told him, pulling out of the hug, "Don't take the whole problem on your shoulders alone. We're all here to help. Right?" she turned to look at the rest of the kids.

"We're right here, man," Matt said, a friendly grin on his face.

"Let us take on this problem one step at a time," Izzy said.

"I might not be the best fighter, but I will do my best," Mimi agreed.

"Tokomon and I will help, too!" TK said enthusiastically.

"You don't even have to ask," Joe said with a grin, readjusting your glasses.

"And don't forget about me, Tai," Agumon said.

"Yeah!" Gomamon said, "We have always stuck by you guys, and we always will."

"Thanks, you guys," Tai said softly, wiping the last traces of the tears away from his eyes, "You're right, Lucy. I promise, I'm gonna do better from now on. I'll need a little help, though." He looked up at the group who was smiling. He smiled back, looked down for a moment, then looked back up, the same broad, confident grin on his face as usual. "Then the first order of business is getting Sora back from Datamon. Izzy, can you find out where Datamon took her?"

"I can certainly try," he opened his laptop, sitting down and began to type rapidly.

"Alright, one step down, several to go," Tai said to himself, then he looked back into the cave, where the entrance would take them back to the last place they'd seen the missing member of the group, "Just wait, Sora. We're coming to get you."

Chapter Sixteen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	17. Chapter 17 Metalgreymon

Chapter Seventeen: The Earthquake of Metalgreymon

Tai, Joe, Mimi, Matt and Lucy all sat by the fire as the day grew into night. TK and the digimon were a little ways off and Izzy was deep in the cave, deciphering more of the code of the Digiworld, looking for another way to track Datamon. Tai was staring blankly into the camp fire, shifting the wood every now and then to make sure it stayed hot.

Lucy, sitting between him and Matt, poked him in the cheek, "Stop brooding. It doesn't look good on you."

Tai blinked for a moment then smiled sadly, ducking his head, "I can't help it. I get what you were saying earlier, Lucy," he said quickly so she wouldn't shove him again, "but it is still my fault. If I hadn't treated it like a game, if I'd have been more careful-"

"Sora still would have been taken and Etemon still would have attacked," Joe interrupted, "Etemon said he caught us on the security cameras, remember? And none of us knew that Datamon was a bad guy. We don't have some kind of super senses that let us know that. The bad guys are just usually way more obvious about it than Datamon."

"I guess so," the wild haired boy said, "but if I was more serious, we could have tracked Sora down right then and there, saving her from whatever that tin can is doing to her."

"We still can save her," Izzy said as he came out of the cave, "and I've figured out where to go to do it."

"What?" the whole group asked. They were trying not to be too noisy, lest they wake up the digimon, so they quietly followed Izzy into the cave again. They did gently shake TK awake so he could be in on this little meeting.

"I can say, with almost complete certainty, that Datamon is still in the pyramid," he used the hologram in the cave to pull up the map so that the group wouldn't be crowding around him to see the screen of his lap top, "You see, this is the path we took, and here is the room where Datamon disappeared," On the screen, there were several paths through the structure, most of them were in black, the path they took was glowing light blue, "but I don't think Datamon left the pyramid at all. Look at this," The map suddenly extended downwards, "He found a secret room at the bottom. He's hiding right under Etemon's nose." at the very bottom of this news addition to the map was a large room, highlighted in red.

Joe nodded, "That's a good place to be, 'til he sneezes."

"There's gotta be a way in," Tai said as he approached the map, looking at the layout, "I don't care what I gotta do, I'm gonna find that room! And I'm gonna bring Sora back!" he turned to face the group, "Guys, I totally understand if you'd rather wait here."

"Hey," Lucy said, "You need to get pushed around again?" She stepped forward, holding her right fist up with her other hand holding her bicep.

"Yeah, man, enough with the guilt trip!" Matt told him, only just stopping himself from saying it loud enough to wake TK, "We're with ya."

"Remember the old saying, Tai," Mimi advised him with a smile on her face, "There's no 'I' in 'Team'!"

"Can I come, too, if I'm brave?" TK asked. For once, Matt didn't tell him no. He knew that they would need every hand on deck if they were gonna rescue Sora and get away from Etemon and Datamon in the same day.

"Alright then," Tai said, a grin beginning to spread across his face and he held his fists before him, "Now, let's go get Sora!"

+-9

The room spun slowly around, and her vision was fuzzy. It felt like she was wearing Joe's glasses. The fuzziness slowly disappeared, revealing a stone ceiling and the sound of machinery.

'_Have I been dreaming?_' Sora thought groggily, '_This isn't my bedroom. Where am I?_' She tried to lift herself up, to get a better view of the room. The first thing she saw was the pink bird that was her partner. She was hanging from the wall by metal cuffs, one around her feet, another on each wing.

"Biyomon!" she exclaimed, "It isn't a dream!" She tried to get up only to find more cuffs on each of her wrists and ankles as well, holding her captive to some kind of table.

"Don't be alarmed, my dear," a familiar, digitized voice said in a slight British accent, "She's simply exhausted from all the excitement," the lights flicked on, revealing Datamon, "She'll be fine when I use her in my plan to destroy Etemon." Datamon was a tiny digimon, smaller than Biyomon, but much stronger. Her looked like a light bulb had gained intelligence and built itself a body. It had one flesh eye and the other was also an infrared laser. It had four metal feet to keep it stable, and it's arms were long and ended in metal hands with four digits each. The seam that formed its mouth was lined with sharp metal protrusions here and there that might have been teeth.

"Biyomon can't Digivolve without me, and I'd rather be stuck in a sewer full of rats than help you!" Sora yelled at the small techno digimon.

"Good then. I'll remember you said that," he turned around to face the computer console he was standing on and began typing. A few clicks later and the flat, bed thing that Sora was bolted to and the one across the room of identical size and shape, hummed to life.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Sora demanded as she noticed an orange holographic light above her head.

"Just remain calm," was all that Datamon told her.

Sora flinched, expecting pain, when the orange light moved over her, down to her feet. Nothing happened, but she had a feeling that it had done more than she could immediately see.

"Get me off this thing!" she yelled, not wanting to find out what the machine was doing.

"We've just started," Datamon said. The orange light on the bed across from her was also at the foot of the machine. The light over Sora intensified for a moment, then there was a sound on the other bed.

"Hey," Sora said, looking over at the machine opposite of her, "What's going on over there?" Even as she watched, little pieces of data gathered on the opposite bed. They coalesced, right before her eyes, into a perfect copy of her feet.

"Relax," the machine digimon ordered, "I'm just making a copy of you."

"Wha?" the shock was clear on Sora's face.

"You see, I believe Biyomon's power has nothing to do with you, my dear, but rather whoever so happens to be in possession of that Digivice you so proudly wear." The digimon pressed a button on his console and a mechanical arm lifted out of large machine, holding a red Crest with a glyphic heart shape on it.

"You will never be able to command Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed, belief in her voice. As she was saying this, the orange light moved up and began copying her lower legs, just above her feet.

"Perhaps no," Datamon admitted, "But we'll see if an exact replica can do it."

"This just can't be happening," Sora bemoaned, closing her eyes to try and wish it all away.

Datamon meanwhile pressed another button on the console, bringing up another robotic arm holding her Tag. He turned around, typing rapidly on the keyboard, making sure everything was going smoothly, and the Crest was slit into the Tag. They glowed red for a moment as they bonded.

Sora opened her eyes then, panic beginning to dawn on her face, "I could be wrong."

"When I fought Etemon before, Etemon destroyed all of my memory circuits, except for those of the fight!" Datamon obviously held a little resentment over his defeat, "From that moment on, I vowed I'd have my revenge, and I _will_ have it! With the help of your Digi-partner. But enough of this small talk, my dear. The moment of truth has arrived!"

Sora didn't understand what her meant at first, until the orange light finally moved directly over her head.

"This isn't good!"

+-9

Outside the pyramid the next day, the area surrounding it was alive with activity. It seemed that Etemon realized the central control of his Dark Network was now vulnerable to attack from those kids and any other enemy that stumbled across it. As such he'd upped the guard, just a little.

What had been two Gazimon guarding the door, another two in the control room, and a couple to stalk the halls, had become thirty digimon stalking the grounds alone, who knew how many were on the inside. The exact count was, ten each of the Gazimon, Monochromon and Tyrannomon. Strong as their digimon could become, the kids couldn't handle those odds head to head. And that was even without Etemon jumping in to the fight.

When Joe had described how Etemon dealt with their digimon during the last excursion into the pyramid, it sounded like the fight with Andromon all over again. Nothing worked and he tossed them around like toys.

"Boy," Izzy breathed, "with so many of the digimon surrounding the pyramid like this, there is just no way we can get in there without somebody seeing us."

"Well, that's exactly why we're going to be acting as decoys," Matt said.

"Right!" Tentomon nodded.

"Now, Tai, when the enemy starts chasing us, you have got into the pyramid quickly, without being seen by anyone," Joe said as he walked up to the map, tracing the path that he wanted the wild haired boy to follow, "Got it?"

"Mm-hm," Tai nodded his head, a focused look on his face. He walked up to Izzy, laying a hand on his shoulder, "You do have directions for me, don't you?"

"Yeah," the younger boy nodded, "and just one more thing."

"How come I want to throw up every time you say 'one more thin'?" Tai asked, actually looking a little green around the gills.

Izzy ignored that in favor of informing Tai of important details, "Okay. Now, to enter the secret room you have to take a hidden passage, but there's another electrified wall to get past, just like the room Datamon was in."

Tai balked a little at that. The memory of the last electric wall he stood before and the fear he felt clear in his mind. He'd frozen completely. He couldn't move an inch, he'd still be there, standing before the wall if Matt hadn't pulled him to safety.

"Do you think you can make it, Tai?" Agumon asked, worried for his partner.

Tai shut his mouth and focused on what was important. He wanted to be angry, and channel that, but he'd seen what had happened to Agumon the last time he let his anger get control of him. This time he would do it right. He'd save Sora and Biyomon. He would!

"I don't care what the wall is! I'm going through!" he declared for everyone to hear.

A few minutes later, the group was crouched down at the foot of the sphinx. Joe was also giving Tai some last minute advice.

"Now, try not to do anything stupid, and try to stay out of any unnecessary trouble, Tai," he told the younger boy, "Remember, the important thing is saving Sora."

"Right," the wild haired boy nodded once. He wasn't even gonna complain about that 'stupid' comment. Joe was there before, he knew what Tai was like when he goofed off.

"And you guys try not to do anything stupid, either, Matt," Izzy said, turning to face the blond boy, TK and Mimi, "If you run into Etemon, just turn around and run the other way."

"You got that, TK," Matt asked his younger brother.

"Yeah," The little guy nodded, holding Tokomon as usual.

"Whoever doesn't come back alive is gonna be in a lot of trouble," Mimi joked, giving the group a thumbs up, "Got it?"

The whole group grinned at her, lifting their fists up before them. Joe then separated himself from the group with Gomamon, to give the seal digimon enough space to Digivolve without squishing their friends against the sphinx.

"For this plan to work, everybody has got to play their part," Tai whispered as they all ducked behind the paw of the statue.

"Their coming out of the pyramid," Gomamon told the group as he peaked over the dune.

"Take cover, everyone!" Tai ordered, "Battle positions!"

Mimi took that moment to pull a large, sand colored cloth from her back and drape it over the others.

"Thanks, Mimi," the wild haired boy told her as he peaked out.

"Your welcome," she whispered back, ducking under the blanket herself.

Taking a moment to Digivolve out of sight, Gomamon became Ikkakumon, and launched his attack, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" The missile flew through the air, propelled by the rocket at it's base till it struck the side of the pyramid and exploded.

Inside, only moments before, the four Gazimon Etemon now had at the controls of the security network, were woken from their naps against the consoles by the pyramid vibrating harshly from the explosion.

"Quick, get under the desk!" One of them shouted, thinking it might be an earthquake. Another one, however, was more observant. He pressed a button on the computer that would change the camera feeds, changing it until he found an feed that might have the reason. On the large screen, coming right towards them, was another missile.

"Oh, no!" all the Gazimon cried. The rocket hit and the structure shook again. It was followed by another as Ikkakumon kept up the bombardment.

Etemon stormed into the security room, shedding a bathrobe as he went, "What's going on here?"

"Ikkakumon is bombing us!" one of his minions exclaimed.

"Well, bomb him back!" Etemon commanded. The pyramid was rocked by another explosion, nearly knocking the digimon off his feet.

Back outside, Ikkakumon didn't let up for a second. Joe was hiding just behind a dune nearby, watching the attack go on.

"Alright," he said quietly to himself, "be brave."

The Tyrannomon and Monochromon had figured out where the missiles were coming from and started charging their location. The ground vibrated with the approach of so many large dino digimon.

"Maybe tomorrow," Joe said, turning around and running. Ikkakumon shot off one last Harpoon Torpedo to stall the oncoming rush of monsters, then turned and followed Joe.

As that was happening, Matt, who had been hiding behind the paw of the sphinx with his partner, pointed out forward, "Okay, Garurumon, let's go!" He jumped on the wolf's back and the two of them leapt into the battle.

"_Howling Blaster!_" the striped digimon yelled, shooting off his blast of brightly glowing blue fire. It struck the ground, just behind some of the Gazimon. The explosion scattered them for a second before they began to chase after Matt with a few of the Monochromon. He ran in a slightly different direction than Joe and Ikkakumon, leading all of the digimon guarding the structure they were about to invade away.

"Alright, all you clowns!" Matt yelled back from Garurumon's back, "Come on! Follow us!"

Back in the control room, Etemon had sent two of the Gazimon out to get this fight started on their terms.

"Look, boss, we did it!" one of the minions still in the room said, " They're running away!"

"What?" barked, frowning behind his dark sunglasses, "I don't get it! This is when they should be attacking with everything they got!" He placed his large hands on his waist, "I know they're up to something. I don't like the smell of this."

"It wasn't me, boss," one of the Gazimon said, hoping his very scent hadn't offended the evil digimon, "But listen. Datamon did something to jam up the network, and we can't find any evidence as to where the block head might be."

Etemon's frown deepened, "I don't want to see your face again 'til you find him, got it?" He turned to walk away.

"But, boss, wait!" the minion tried.

"Now, don't be buggin' me with the little details, just do it!" Etemon commanded. He left the room, walked determinedly through the pyramid till he got to the exit, then leapt up onto his trailer from the entrance. Anyone that would have been privy to it would have been very impressed by the jump.

"I'm gonna be rid of all them trouble makers! Today!" he told himself with a malicious grin as he pointed forward, towards the two that were running away. The Monochromon at the lead of his trailer roared and began to pull it along the behind him.

TK, Lucy, Mimi, Tai, Izzy and all their digimon lifted the sand colored cloth just enough to watch as Etemon went after Matt and Joe.

"I hope Joe and Matt make it okay," Tai whispered. He Izzy and Lucy stood from under the cover of the cloth, "Come on, Izzy, let's move out!"

"Roger!" The boy nodded.

"I'm coming with you," Lucy told him simply, "I want to rescue Sora just as much as you do, Tai."

The wild haired boy nodded. He wasn't going to say no to an extra bit of help. With that, the three of them were running across the desert, their partners right beside them.

"He forgot his name," Mimi said, looking at Izzy with some amount of worry.

"We'll be right back!" Tai said, leading the way. Soon enough they began to near the secret, invisible entrance to the pyramid.

"When we get to the wall, just keep running!" Izzy ordered, "Lucy, run through the wall exactly where Tai and I do!"

"Gotcha!" Tai said.

"Right behind you," Lucy replied.

Tai was the first to run into the wall. It was kind of interesting to watch him and Agumon disappearing into the stone. Izzy was right behind him with Tentomon. The pink haired girl was last with her partner flying just behind her. She didn't hesitate for a second at the wall, making sure she ran through right where Izzy did. Just like the boys, she passed through the illusion like it was air.

"So far, so good," Izzy said, running down the tunnels and stairs behind Tai, "This is the right way, I'm sure." They took a left, only to find one of the doorways blocked off by rubble.

"The passage is blocked!" Tai exclaimed.

"It's a dead end," Agumon added.

"Alternatives?" Lucy asked.

"That door there," Izzy said, "It's sure to lead deeper as well."

Tai sneaked down the stone tunnel until he had a clear view of the area it led to. There were no signs of enemy digimon, so he called back to the others, "It's clear, Let's go!" The kids ran into another long hallway, around some more rubble, and darted into another room off shoot before something could walk down the tunnel and see them.

However, they didn't notice a camera, mounted on the ceiling, had just barely caught them on tape.

In the security control room, one of the Gazimon was looking at the numerous internal security feed, wondering if he saw what he thought he did.

"Hey," he said to his partner, who was watching the large screen that showed the outside, looking out for another attacking digimon while their defenses were chasing down the two others that had tried earlier, "Did you notice anything on the middle monitor?"

"Yeah, you're attracting flies again," the other digimon drawled.

"Hmph!" the first Gazimon said, typing on the keyboard to bring up that video again.

+-9

Out in the desert, Joe and Ikkakumon were still running from the Dinosaur digimon. Occasionally they would turn around and fire off a few Harpoon Torpedoes at the horde, but other than that they kept running. They stayed relatively close to the pyramid, not wanting to be too far away from the structure should something go wrong and the others need them.

Etemon was quickly catching up to the horde, riding on top of his trailer instead of inside it. He never noticed as he passed Mimi, Palmon, TK and Tokomon, the four of them hiding under that sand colored cloth still.

Mimi pulled the sheet back, looking in the direction that the evil digimon had gone, "Oh no! Matt and Joe need help! Please, Palmon, you've got to Digivolve right away!"

"Right!" The plan digimon said as she stepped out from under the sheet. She stepped off to the left, turned into her giant cactus form and lifted Mimi up on one of her large boxing gloves.

"Now, remember, TK, don't move!" Mimi told the boy as she and Togemon moved off to help Joe, Matt and their digimon distract the monsters coming for them.

TK watched them go with Tokomon right beside him, both feeling a little less than useful as they watched their friends going off to fight.

On his trailer, just behind the horde of dinosaurs and Gazimon, Etemon was getting annoyed. He wouldn't be able to get through this menagerie without being knocked off his ride.

"_Dark Network!_" He through a green and black ball of energy into the rushing digimon. The explosion was huge and knocked them all out, clearing up the path for him to get through. The other's couldn't believe it as they saw it. Etemon's raw power was just... awesome. In the worst way possible.

Looking back from Ikkakumon's back, Joe couldn't help but comment, "It's time to go."

"You're becomin' a nuisance, son," Etemon said as he rolled out of the smoke of his own explosion.

"Of course," Joe quipped, "It's because I'm a teenager."

"I have to admit, it's been a lot of fun, toyin' with ya, but now, play time's over," Etemon said with a malicious grin, his arms crossed in front of his chest, it's the end of the line for you and your goat, baby!"

+-9

Deep in the pyramid's secret bottom, Datamon was downloading programming into his Sora clone.

"Your friends are very perceptive, my dear," the machine digimon said, "It seems they've already discovered that I'm holding you prisoner in this pyramid."

"What was that explosion?" Sora asked. Despite being his captive, Datamon was perfectly informative with her. If she wanted to know something, she only needed to ask and he would tell her. She guessed it was because he thought she couldn't do anything while she was strapped to the table. For the most part, he was right.

"There's a ferocious battle raging outside, and several of your friends have even managed to enter the pyramid!" He continued typing away.

"My friends?" Sora wondered. She hoped it was true. She hoped they made it.

+-9

Gazimon had rewound the film and watched it again. He grinned smugly when he saw the group of kids going through. He was right! He rewound it again and played it for his fellow digimon.

"See, look! I caught them on tape!" he said, pointing at the middle screen, "And you said they were just flies!"

The other Gazimon's eyes were wide with shock, "Fast forward," he ordered, wanting to see if the kids appeared again. Or flies.

+-9

Ikkakumon was running for his life with Joe still riding on his back, "I hate running away!" the digimon grumped. He then skidded to a halt as Etemon's energy ball flew through the air and landed right in front of him. He was just lucky enough to avoid the main blast.

Ikkakumon whirled around to face the evil digimon, gritting his teeth, "C'mon!" he said to Joe, who had fallen off his back. The two of them took a sharp right, hoping to throw Etemon off their tracks. Instead, the monster poured on the speed and met them at the top of one dune.

"_Howling Blaster!_" Garurumon shouted as he breathed out his attack before Etemon could do anything to Joe and Ikkakumon. The large monkey digimon barely dodged the attack, glaring back at the wolf digimon and his rider. Matt, like Joe, got off of his digimon. Garurumon wouldn't be able to fight as well with him riding the digimon.

Etemon turned to the wolf digimon now, ready to put him in his place as well.

"_Needle Spray!_" Thousands of needles flew through the air at the evil digimon. He flailed wildly, laughing the entire time as he did, knocking the needles out of the air as fast as they came.

Joe was struck speechless when a dozen of the large cactus needles landed harmlessly at his feet.

"Is that the best you got?" Etemon grinned, "I've seen sharper needles in granny's knittin bag!"

"I think we need a new plan," Joe whimpered. The digimon was just way too powerful. Even with Togemon, Garurumon, Ikkakumon and their partners surrounding him on three sides, he looked like he had nothing at all to worry about.

"C'mon, little playmates! Show me what you got!" he said arrogantly.

Garurumon growled angrily before leaping forward, swiping at Etemon with his claws.

"Garurumon!" Matt cried out with worry. Etemon tossed the wolf aside like a rag doll, laughing the entire time. When Ikkakumon came up behind him and tried to body slam him, he just punched him in the stomach, sending the white furred digimon up into the sky about eight feet.

Etemon laughed maniacally as he kept this up for a few seconds, punching the white digimon in the gut to send him into the air, then repeating the process every time he fell back down.

"Ikkakumon, get up!" Joe yelled encouragingly.

Etemon finally caught the beast in both hands, then tossed him onto the fallen Garurumon.

"_Needle Spray!_" Togemon tried again, hoping the monkey would slip up and get hit.

Instead, he dodged most of her attack, catching a dozen as he did, four in each hand, and another four between the toes of one foot. Then, the monster through them back, harder than they'd been trying to hit him with.

The needles slammed into the cactus digimon, knocking her over with the force of the impact and the pain.

"Oh, Togemon!" Mimi quailed helplessly.

Etemon reached behind his back then, holding one finger up in the air as he said, "I like to close a show with a tune that's currently number one on the charts. It goes something like this," He pulled his microphone from behind his back and started his Concert Crush attack, singing into the mic. The sonic attack drained the digimon of their energy and they reverted to their smaller forms.

"I just can't stand it!" Ikkakumon growled from next to Garurumon just as they changed back to their usual forms.

"Oh, no!" Joe and Matt said simultaneously while they looked at their digimon lying helplessly on the ground while Mimi fought back sobs at seeing the damage done to her partner.

"And don't forget to tip your waitress," the evil digimon grinned at the kids.

"Etemon!" a voice came through his ear piece and he glared back at the pyramid, taking his eyes off the kids, "We've discovered the whereabouts of the other children, sir! They are inside the pyramid!"

"Why they be in-" he began angrily, then thought of something, "Unless Datamon is still inside the pyramid... Datamon is smarter than I thought," the evil monkey grinned, "But not nearly as smart as me!" He turned to the other kids he had right in front of him. Only to find them gone. "Huh? Now, where did all those others go?" He looked all around himself but couldn't see them anywhere, "What's a legend gotta do to keep an audience, baby? Well, it doesn't matter. I'll just destroy the ones in the pyramid first and then I'll come back for the rest of them later. Ahuhuh!" He ran back towards his trailer and hopped on top again, "Hya! Move, you good for nothing slowpoke!" He rode off.

"He's got a lot of anger," Matt said, peaking out from under the sheet, TK and Tokomon next to him.

"And he sure get's mad easily," TK laughed with Tokomon.

Once the evil digimon was far enough away, Joe stood up from under the sheet, "At least we can still laugh about it."

"But what about Tai?" Matt asked.

"Oh, that's right!" Mimi said, all the kids looking towards the battered pyramid now, "I bet he's not laughing right about now."

+-9

"Looks like the Gazimon have figured out we're here!" Tai exclaimed, watching the rabbit digimon run around from behind one of the fake walls.

"And we're so close to the room," Izzy bemoaned.

"Let me and Skymomon handle this," Lucy said, stepping up to the fake wall, "Get ready to Digivolve as soon as we're through."

"I'm ready to rumble!" Skymomon said, bouncing in place as she punched out a couple of times like a boxer.

Lucy and the little monkey dived through the wall, knocking one of the grey digimon into the wall.

"Come and get us you grey fluff balls!" Lucy said.

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!" Luckily, SkyYetimon wasn't as large as the other digimons' larger forms. They could have fit in this hallway, but it would have been uncomfortably tight. For SkyYetimon, it was just the right size.

"Get them!" one of the Gazimon yelled, and the group, half a dozen or so, leapt at the human and her digimon. SkyYetimon whipped one large forearms at them, knocking three to one side at once, then knocking the other three out of the air with her tail as she spun around. She started to run then, picking up Lucy as she went, leading the Gazimon away so that Tai and Izzy could go get Sora instead of fighting them there.

"C'mon," Tai said to Izzy, "Now's our chance!"

The ceiling above the two kids and their digimon suddenly cracked and collapsed, causing the four of them to dive forward to avoid the falling debris and Etemon who caused the collapse.

Etemon growled, punching through the wall and causing the illusion to collapse, "Now, before I cancel you like a bad sitcom, direct me to Datamon!" the digimon commanded. He stalked forward, a glare on his face.

"Go find Sora!" Izzy ordered Tai, "Tentomon, Digivolve!"

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!" The giant bug was actually forced to duck slightly to fit in the hallway.

"Hold him, Kabuterimon!" Tai told the giant bug, running away with Agumon right at his side.

"Hey!" Etemon growled. He went to follow the two of them, but was blocked by Kabuterimon's horn.

Down the hallway, Lucy looked over her digimon's shoulder, "SkyYetimon, stop! Etemon's back there, we have to help them."

"Right!" The winged yeti nodded, she turned around, smashed the Gazimon mercilessly to the ground, then set Lucy on the ground, "Wait here," she told the human girl, running into the battle.

+-9

With Tai and Agumon, the two of them ran through another false wall and down a flight of stairs. They weren't stopping for anything.

Except a giant wall with black wires crisscrossing it and electricity visibly arching between the wires. That stopped them pretty nicely.

"Oh, great!" Tai grumbled, feeling the fear building inside him again. If he didn't do this right, he would be fresh fried Digidestined.

"An electric wall," Agumon described the situation pretty accurately, but needlessly. He noticed his partner's hesitance and stepped up behind him, "I can destroy the wall, Tai."

"No," Tai held out a hand in front of his partner to stop him, "I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" his partner asked.

"Not exactly," the wild haired boy said, approaching the wall, "But if I don't do this on my own, right here, right now, I may never be able to do it." He clenched his fists at his sides, shivering slightly with the tension that was rapidly growing. "'A man must face himself before he can face his enemies'," the boy said as he raised his right hand slowly to place it on the wall, for good or ill.

"I think I understand, Tai," Agumon said after a few moments of silence, "Go for it!"

Tai tried to move his arm, but it was locking up on him, anyone that could see his face would note the outright fear on it. He had to struggle against himself as he stretched his hand further forward.

"I know you can do it," the yellow dinosaur told him quietly.

Ever so slowly, his hand approached the wall. Inch by terrifying inch.

"Yah!" He cried out, thrusting his hand forward.

And it slipped harmlessly through the wall.

"It's a fake!" Tai exclaimed, not noticing how his crest was glowing.

"Yippee!" Agumon cheered for the boy.

But the good mood did not last long. Behind them, tumbling down the stairs, was Etemon, holding SkyYetimon in a headlock with one arm and holding Kabuterimon in an arm bar with his legs and free arm.

"So," he grinned at Tai, "We meet again."

"Agumon!" Tai called.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" The giant dinosaur stood between the pile of digimon and his partner.

"Tai, break through to Sora!" he roared, stepping forward to add his efforts to the fight against Etemon.

"Good luck, Greymon!" Tai yelled back, just before he dived through the wall.

The first thing he saw upon getting through the wall was Sora standing next to Datamon. She was just standing there, staring ahead, not even trying to get away from the monster that had kidnapped her.

"Sora, are you alright?" he asked, "Sora! Speak to me!" He began to run forward, probably going to shake her shoulders.

"That's not Sora! That's just a copy!" Biyomon yelled. This caused Tai to look to the left side of the room. Biyomon was cuffed up on the wall, unable to move, and the real Sora was bolted to some kind of medical bed, or so it looked.

"Here, Tai!" the girl in question, the real girl, said.

"And now the copy is finished," Datamon said, "I will give her the magic Crest and she will become the new Sora and do whatever I require of her!" Two robotic arms, one holding the Digivice, the other holding the Tag and Crest, began to move towards the false Sora and the machine digimon.

"That's what you think, you pile of junk!" Tai said as he ran forward. He grabbed the Digivice and the Tag.

"No!" the little machine yelled, while Tai ran towards the real Sora, "You don't know what you're doing. I cannot permit a mere boy to spoil my plans for vengeance!" His right eye glowed red as he sent a signal to... something.

"I'm coming, Sora!" the boy shouted as he approached the medical bed.

Only a few feet from reaching the bed, it, and the floor in an eight foot diameter circle, disappeared. Sora screamed as she started to fall into the darkness below. Tai dived forward and was able to grab the girl by the wrist. Sora clutched him right back. Hanging onto him like the life line he was.

"That is the center of Etemon's Dark Network," Datamon said as he approached the two preteen, his metal feet clicking on the ground, "Anything dropped in there is lost to all eternity," he stretched his arms out, one gripping the wrist arm of each child, "And since I have no use for the original, I'll simply get rid of it!" the red headed girl screamed in pain at the grip of the monster's metal hand on her arm.

"Tai!" Biyomon shouted, "The Crest!"

"Yes, the Crest is the means by which you may save the maiden's life," Datamon told him, "If you give it to me, immediately."

"Yeah?" Tai asked, gritting his teeth from the pain in his arm and the struggle to hold onto the girl, "Why don't you go tell Etemon your sad story, 'cause we're not interested!" He held his right hand over the pit, dropping the Crest and Digivice both.

"No, wait!" the machine cried.

Sora moved quick, snaking her arm out to catch the items.

"Not scared, are you, Datamon?" Tai grinned at the digimon.

"Biyomon!" Sora called out, the light of Digivolution covering her partner.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" The shackles that had held the pink little bird snapped like toothpicks against the fire bird. She then hovered over the hole to the core of Etemon's network. Both the children grabbed the giant birds feet, and she lifted them up and out.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Datamon roared at the giant bird, but unable to do anything against it, "Those are mine!" Birdramon ignored him, flying toward the brick wall Tai had materialized through.

On the other side of it, SkyYetimon, Greymon and Kabuterimon standing before Etemon. He'd just heard Datamon's cry and was grinning cruelly.

"Don't you worry, Tin head, I'll play with ya-ooh!" He didn't get to finish whatever he was gonna say as the electric wall collapsed on him. Where the attacks of the other digimon had failed to scratch him in the slightest, the electric wall was enough to flatten the evil monkey for a little while at least.

"Alright!" Greymon said thankfully.

"We made it!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Yeah, go Birdramon!" Lucy cheered.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Sora said with a grin on her face as they stood before the rubble of the electric wall.

"Let's get back to the others!" Tai said.

+-9

some distance away from the pyramid, the other four children were still trying to get there. Gabumon, Palmon and Gomamon were still drained so they couldn't Digivolve and that was the only way to get there quickly.

They didn't need to however, as they saw the four familiar digimon that had Digivolved right in Etemon's base blow out a wall and come storming out of the building.

"Yay!" TK and Mimi yelled.

"We're over here!" Sora shouted back, waving her arms happily to get their attention, not that she really needed to with a giant bird, dinosaur, yeti and bug standing right behind her, Lucy, Tai and Izzy.

The other four poured on a little extra speed, trying to get to their friends even faster.

+-9

Back in Datamon's lair, he was glaring at the copy he'd made of the girl.

"Without the Crest, this thing is useless!" he hissed to himself, or so he thought. He tapped the toe of the right foot with one finger and the body disappeared into raw data again.

"Now it's time for me to dismantle you the way you just dismantled your little playmate, ya miserable pile of bolts!" Etemon yelled as he stomped forward.

Datamon looked at the monkey digimon approaching him and sent another infrared signal to the floor of the room. The hole rapidly widened. Etemon barely noticed in time to jump over to the giant console bolted into the wall. Datamon began to fall, but latched onto the other digimon's left ankle.

"Hey! Let go, let go!" he tried to flick his leg back and fourth, but the machine digimon stuck to him like glue.

"If I'm going down, you're coming with me into the black pit!" the smaller digimon held out his hand to the humongous knot of black wires below, "Just try these!" The fingers on the hand opened up at the end, and little red rockets flew out, into the knot of cables and wires.

"Now, I'm not gonna tell you again," Etemon threatened, "Let go of me, or I'm gonna open you up like a can of beans."

"Those were computer viruses I dropped into the black pit," Datamon told his current anchor, "It will keep growing and absorbing until it consumes all the dark energy of our cosmos. Including yours, fool!" he laughed, as, right before their eyes, the digimon connected to Etemon's black network began to be sucked into the pit, just like the machine digimon said. The Tyrannomon, Monochromon, and Gazimon were being pulled in like it was a black hole. Hey would reach the edge of the knot, shatter, and their pieces would be absorbed into the knot. It would grow large with each digimon being pulled in, and they were coming from all over the desert now.

"Bah, you know how I hate bugs!" The evil digimon complained. He was actually beginning to struggle with his grip on the console. Finally it was down to only his finger tips, putting his everything into holding on. It wasn't enough. He fell into the knot of his Dark Network, sinking in up to his waist, pain streaming up through him.

+-9

Tai, and the others who had come from the pyramid, were picked up by there digimon and they quickly moved away from whatever was sucking those digimon in.

"What happened back there?" Joe asked as they were picked up by the large digimon when they passed by. He was riding on Kabuterimon with Izzy, Mimi was with Sora, Matt was with Tai, and TK was riding with Lucy.

"I suspect that was the computer core going into a state of critical failure!" Izzy shouted back over the sound of all the digimon being sucked into the pyramid.

Black and green beams of energy started exploding out of the structure, crumbling the walls even further.

"Look at the pyramid!" Sora called out after they'd all landed.

"It's disintegrating!" Tai exclaimed. Indeed. The upside down pyramid turned to dust in the face of the power of the core.

And where it fell, Etemon rose again.

"Alright, be honest! Who missed me?" he grinned evilly at the children. He had changed, just a little bit. For one, from the waist down, he had fused with the gigantic ball of wires that was the Dark Network. Two, he had been skinny, if powerful, before, now, his muscles were inflated with the power of his computer core. His musculature would make bodybuilders look a little skinny.

The kids gasped in fear.

"What's with this guy?" Tai grunted.

"I told you I'd come back and take my revenge on you," Etemon grinned, "You didn't believe me, didja?"

The digimon stepped up to the plate then, the four of them that had Digivolved, and they went on the attack.

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

The three attacks _almost_ hit the ball of cables, but disintegrated before they could hit him.

"Hey, that was pretty good! I'll give it a nine point six!" he gathered green and black energy into a sphere in one hand, "Now, are you ready for a fast ball?" He pulled it back with one inflated arm and tossed it forward.

The three flying digimon dodged the attack, thankfully. The kids followed it's path through the air till it hit the plateau a great distance behind them. There wasn't an explosion or a rumbling of the earth. No, instead, the plateau _warped_. The piece of reality that the attack hit started to just warp and spiral into nonexistence.

"That is not good," Lucy breathed, unable to fully express the shock she had.

"That one's headed right for the sphinx!" Joe pointed out just in time for the group to watch that get all twisted up as well.

"The sphinx melted!" Mimi cried.

"Melted doesn't even begin to describe it," Izzy said.

"We've tried everything!" Sora quailed, "Nothing can stop him! I guess this is the end!"

"I was hoping to skip algebra class, but not like this," Joe quipped.

Tai's Crest began to glow beneath his shirt while the boy was filled with the determination to continue this fight. They had to stop Etemon. They had to, it was that simple.

"No!" he barked, "I'm not ready to surrender to Etemon just yet! Comin', Greymon?" He called over his shoulder before he started running forward.

"I'm right behind ya," the dinosaur told him stomping forward.

"What have we got here, sports fans? A new batter steps to the plate," Etemon spoke as if narrating a base ball game.

"I'm not afraid of you, ya big blowhard!" Tai yelled out, holding his crest forward while it glowed with orange light, "Come down here and fight like a 'mon!"

"Tai, what are you doing? You don't stand a chance!" Mimi called after him.

"Hey, you are brave. I like that. Ha!" the evil digimon commented before throwing another energy ball at Greymon.

The dinosaur tried to dodge it, and he did for the most part, but it grazed the top of the brown helmet he had on his head, knocking him onto his back.

"Don't worry, Greymon! I'm staying with you!" Tai told his partner. Even as he spoke, the light coming from his crest grew more and more intense. The glow was matched by his Digivice, the keening of an impending Digivolution coming from it.

"Tai, your courage is giving me even greater strength!" Greymon said, popping up from the attack like it hadn't even hurt, "I can Digivolve!"

Finally, the white energy beam shot out of the Digivice in Tai's hand, was absorbed by the Crest of Courage and then the symbol of the crest itself floated through the air and slammed into Greymon.

"Greymon, Digivolve to Metalgreymon!" Agumon went from three and a half feet tall, to thirty as Greymon. Metalgreymon was more than five times that size. His brown helmet and horns all became metal. His left arm was replaced with a metal one that ended in three, huge bladed claws, and the metal spread across his chest as well, covering his pectorals. On his back were two, giant, blue tattered wings and coming from the base of his new metal helmet was a bush of red hair.

"Lookie here!" Etemon laughed, "A fully evolved digimon! I can handle him too, just watch me, kids."

Tai was just staring up at what his partner had become in shock. This creature was what he was supposed to become. This was his true form. Not some horrifying monster that could only fight.

"Metalgreymon?" Joe asked.

"It was the power from the crest," Matt realized.

"This is not an uncontrollable monster," Lucy said, a hopeful grin on her face. She could still do without the rumbling of the ground. It was muted from the sand's cushioning, but it was still there.

"Metalgreymon uses his own body as a weapon during battle," Tentomon as usual was acting as the digimon cyclopedia, "His most lethal instrument is the Giga Destroyer."

"Etemon is everybody's enemy!" Tai shouted up to his partner over the shifting of the sands at his feet, "Use the power of the Crest!"

"What's with ya?" the evil digimon asked, "Is there no end to your stupidity? Well, maybe I can put an end to it for ya. Ha!" He launched another energy ball at Metalgreymon.

The humongous form of Tai's partner didn't bother trying to dodge. He just swiped at the blast with his metal limb, dissipating it in mid air, harmlessly. Etemon balked.

"Hey, it was just a joke!" He tried to reason with the monster cyborg.

Metalgreymon just moved forward with a roar.

"Finish him now, while we have the power!" Tai yelled.

"No, back off, baby!" Etemon ordered.

Metalgreymon ignored him, slamming into him head first, causing him to yell with fright and pain.

"Ow! What's the matter with you? Don't you know the rules? There's no headbuttin' allowed!" the digimon yelled.

In reply, the cyborg digimon began to glow with a bright white light. The sands below the feet of the children and digimon was being sucked into the core of the network faster than ever. They'd had to get down to their hands and knees to avoid being pulled off their feet into an ungraceful lump.

"He's glowing!" Mimi said, "I wish my hair could do that!"

"He's using the crest power!" TK told her. He was keeping a tighter hold on Tokomon than ever.

"Whoa, don't destroy me!" Etemon pleaded, "I've got too much talent!"

"_Giga Blaster!_" Metalgreymon yelled as the metal plating over his chest opened up and two missile, shaped like eyeless black sharks, flew through the air. They smashed into the computer core and exploded brightly. Almost immediately, the core began to implode. Etemon was most assuredly destroyed by the blast, but the suction from the core of the Dark Network was still pulling at the sands and air. The wind became so much towards the center that it began to drag Tai towards it.

His partner slammed his claw into the sands, stopping him from flying away.

"Hold onto me, Metalgreymon!" The boy called. And the digimon did. He kept a hold of Tai even as the two of them were pulled into the vortex of negative energy.

"Tai!" The whole group cried, watching their friend and leader being sucked into the swirling hole that had been created by Etemon's defeat. Immediately after the two of them had been sucked in, it closed and the winds stopped pulling and the sands stopped shifting.

"What happened to them?" TK asked, staring at the spot they had last been seen.

"He... he's gone," Lucy breathed, tears beginning to gather in the corners of her eyes. He was gone and there was nothing she could do. He was gone and he might not ever return.

"Come back!" Sora cried out.

+-9

When Tai came to, the heat was stifling. He was looking at the sky and, if he didn't know any better, it looked like a plane was flying over head. He looked down, to notice his surroundings, and for the first time he noticed, not only was the sky a normal color, not the odd menagerie of colors, there were people, real humans, all around him. They were waling by, going about their own business, ignoring the boy standing in the middle of the park with his mouth hanging open and the little pink ball with a mouth, eyes and ears beside him.

"Where am I?" Tai breathed, looking from the people to the buildings around him, "What is this place?"

Koromon was as much in awe as Tai was. This looked nothing like the Digiworld. He actually couldn't formulate any words.

"Koromon... I...I'm home."

Chapter Seventeen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	18. Chapter 18 Home Away From Home

Chapter Eighteen: Home Away From Home

The world hadn't changed. Evil digimon still were fighting for the control of the digital world, the Digidestined fought against them, and the world trembled from the results. The deserts remained dry, the seas wet, and the mountains windy.

No, the world hadn't changed. They had.

Tai was the lynch pin. He was the leader. He was the heart of the group.

Without him, it all fell apart. Matt, Joe, and Izzy tried to make up the difference. They were a poor substitute. Joe always tried to keep the group safe, not a bad goal, but he went too far with it. It came to the point that they simply refused to listen to his absurd orders. Izzy was always logical. Always. He never did anything based on the emotions everyone could tell he was trying to hide. He thought that, by approaching each and every problem with pure analysis, nothing could stand against them. But none of the others could live with being robots.

Matt was perhaps the worst off. The arguments and fights he'd had with Tai were nothing compared to the wars he waged against himself. When one morning Izzy walked off with Tentomon and didn't come back, you could see it tearing him up. He wanted to go get his friend. But they needed to move on. They needed to move to the next area to escape from the evil digimon that had taken Etemon's place.

The next to go was surprisingly Mimi. She just stopped walking one morning. Lucy could see the conflict in Matt's eyes. She could see the pain of the loss. But he kept going. He was doing it to protect TK. That was how he justified himself.

Joe left next. His hurt a little less. He didn't walk off into the sunset without a word, or just get left behind. Instead, he straight up told Lucy, Matt, Sora and TK that he didn't want to do this anymore. He was tired of the constant running for their lives. He was going to find a place to hole up, stay out of the way. Lucy couldn't fault him for his reasoning.

Lucy didn't know what happened after that. She was the next one to leave. She, of course, had Skymomon with her, but she couldn't take watching anymore of her friends disappear. She preempted it by leaving herself. She only told Sora what she was doing.

"I'm going back to the desert," she whispered to the girl as she took some fruit with her in a cloth sack, "I'm going to look for Tai."

"Lucy," Sora sighed, her eyes downcast.

"I know what you're going to say," Lucy said, not looking at the older girl, busying herself by preparing for the journey back, "I know everyone thinks it's hopeless. I can't accept that!" She turned to face Sora, "Tai can't be gone for good. We need him. All of us. Matt, TK, Joe, Izzy, Mimi, me, you. We need him to lead us. He might not always be at his best, but he'll do what he thinks is right. So I'm doing what I know is right. I'm going back. I'm going to wait for him."

Sora looked at the pink haired girl, sadness crossing her face. She pulled her into a hug, a farewell without words.

"I'll come back with him, I promise," Lucy said as she pulled away from the hug.

"Good luck," Sora said.

That was the last Lucy saw of the three of them. She made her way back to the desert with Skymomon, determined to wait until Tai reappeared. There was no alternative in her mind. He either came back and they won this battle with the evil digimon, or he didn't and they lost. That was it.

She'd wait until the end of time if she had to.

After the first few days, she noticed that she was sleeping later and later. Skymomon too. They would go to bed at a normal time, as far as they knew, but it just seemed like they were more and more tired all the time. Finally, two weeks in to their wait. They just didn't wake up.

+-9

Tai couldn't move. He was afraid, again. But this time, it wasn't for his life. He was afraid that if he moved, if he took a step forward, that this world would turn out to be an illusion. Or he would find out that it wasn't his world at all.

"Is this some strange world with humans, too? Or are we actually home?" Tai asked.

"I don't know," Koromon breathed, marveling at the strangeness of this land. The sky wasn't speckled, and something was flying really high above them. The humans were everywhere. The most the little guy had ever seen were Tai's group. Eight children had not prepared him for the hundreds he could see walking through the area. And the plant life! It looked so bland. It was only green and brown, not the myriad of shades that he was used to.

"This looks like a park I used to play in when I was younger," Tai said, looking around, "I think we're in my home town!"

"No way!" Koromon exclaimed.

"Look, there's the toy factory," the wild haired boy said, pointing, "And that's city hall, over there!"

"Tai, I don't mean to cut the sight seeing tour short, but have you noticed that I'm not Metalgreymon anymore?" the little guy asked, "I'm back to Koromon."

"Unbelievable," Tai breathed softly, "This can't be real."

"It feel's real to- uh!" Koromon was interrupted by a red ball slamming into the side of his face. It was a third his size, and bounced across the hard brick ground to a little girl in a green dress.

"Hey," the boy called to the little girl, grabbing her attention, "Tell me something, where are we? Is this world for real? Or am I imagining it?"

"Wha?" the little girl looked from the odd boy to the weird pink thing at his feet.

"We just want to know if you're a real human being!" Koromon told her, trying to get her to answer.

"Please, tell us, are you a real girl? Or a digital girl?" Tai tried again.

The little girl just kept staring at Koromon, a look of fright crossing her face as she realized that her mommy had lied to her. Monsters were real. And one had just spoken to her. In broad daylight. Monsters weren't supposed to come out during the day. But there he was, sharp teeth, big mouth, long ears.

Tears started gathering in her eyes, her mouth quivered and she gave a quiet whimper. The whimper turned into a scream quick as a bolt. The girl got to here feet, still screaming and crying, running away to her mother. She may have lied about the monsters, but she could still protect her, right?

As a result, all of the people in the park stopped what they were doing to stare at the boy and his odd, talking ball toy. They hadn't minded, or cared, before, but if this kids was being a punk, scaring little children, then they wanted to know about it.

"What'd I do?" Koromon asked his partner, "Did I say something wrong to her?"

"You scared her," Tai complained, "Now she's gonna tell the park police."

The digimon's eyes shrank to the size of pin pricks in fear at that, "Wah! The police!? Will they arrest me for making her cry?" He turned his large, expressive eyes on his partner, "Save me, Tai, they're gonna get me!"

Tai ducked down and held his digimon's mouth closed with one hand, "Be quiet!" the wild haired boy had noticed now that they were really drawing a crowd in the park. He could hear all the people talking even as he told his plan to Koromon, "Listen up. Just pretend you're a soccer ball," the little thing nodded, and Tai picked him up and ran for the trees in the park, "Now let's get out of here and chill so I can figure out what's going on!"

A short while later, after making sure that the park security weren't actually looking for them, the boy and his digimon walked through the human metropolis, staring at the buildings and people and cars.

"This all looks so familiar," Tai said softly so only his partner could hear, "This has to be my home!" He was looking at the familiar, humongous Ferris Wheel as he spoke before heading into the shade of a bridge.

"Well, for your sake, I hope so," Koromon said back, "But how can you be certain you're not just imagining it in the Digiworld, Tai?" They had stopped walking to look at a map under neath the bridge. It looked like nonsense to the digimon, but Tai recognized it as a railway map.

"Well, I guess we'll find out when we got to my house and see," he paused then, a shocked grin coming over his face, "Hey! Did you here what I just said? 'Until we go to my house'!" He threw Koromon a few feet into the air and caught him a couple times in celebration, "Oh, wow, Koromon, this has got to be the happiest day of my life!" He pulled the little guy into a close hug, nuzzling him close.

And the digimon fed off of his good mood, laughing happily with Tai, "Great!" he exclaimed. If this really was Tai's home, he couldn't wait to see it.

"I'm home! I'm home! I'm home!" the boy cried out happily, drawing a couple odd stares, but again, people left him alone, "This is so cool!" he pulled Koromon away from himself to look the little guy in the eye, "I can't wait to see my family, and when they get a look at you they'll know I'm telling the truth about the Digiworld! Then we'll see if the others got home too and hook up with them!"

The digimon's smile grew across his face, "I hope you're right! Let's go!"

Soon enough, Tai and Koromon exiting a train platform in his neighborhood. It had been a twenty minute train ride

"I'm sure glad I had some left over money from camp," the boy said to his partner, "the subway's a lot nicer than walking home." They walked down to street level, Tai still carrying the digimon around to keep up the illusion of him just being a toy, "Wow," he marveled, "Everything looks the exact same as it did the day I left for camp," he kept walking, smiling blissfully at all the familiar sights and sounds till he came to his apartment block, "That's where I live, Koromon. Pretty neat, don't you think?"

"Wow!" Koromon breathed, looking at the structure with more than fifteen levels and hundreds of apartments, "With all those rooms, your family must be big!"

"It's an apartment building. Lots of families live there," Tai explained to his friend.

He made for the elevator then, clicking the button for his floor. Once there he silently made his way over to his door, marked with the Kamiya family name plate.

"I don't know what to expect," Tai said to his partner whome he was now holding under one arm, "everything has been so weird. In the Digiworld I lost track of time. I wonder I they're even going to recognize me!"

"We wont know unless we go in," Koromon told him, looking at the door with wonder in his eyes, just like the boy's.

"Right," the human boy said, reaching for the handle to his apartment, "Well, here goes!" He twisted the handle to one side, started to pull the door open, then just... stopped, "It's unlocked. They must be home!" he looked to the right of the door, "I remember when my mom planted those flowers," he said softly, looking at the flower box next to their door, "I remember buzzing my friends up on that intercom to come over and watch TV, or play video games. Oh! And the time when dad put our family nameplate on this door," he shifted his gaze upwards as he spoke, reliving memories that hadn't seemed important until he thought he'd never see home again, "But those memories wont mean a thing, Koromon, if we came out of the dimension rift at the wrong time. What if I no longer exist?"

He stood there, silently, just holding the handle to his door, now unsure if he wanted to go in there. What if he wasn't in the right place? What if his family had moved out a long time ago? What if they'd come back years before he was born?

"Tai, can I make a little suggestion?" Koromon asked after a few moments.

"Huh?" the boy turned to look at the digimon under his arm.

"Open the door." It was a simple suggestion, but it broke Tai out of the deep thoughts he was having about nothing in this world being right.

"Here we go," he breathed. Finally he opened the door.

The apartment was quaint and cozy. It had three bedroom, a bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. It was exactly like every other apartment on the block except this one was his. He looked at the wooden entrance step to the apartment and saw three pairs of shoes. Two of the pairs were adult sized sandals, the third was child sized, much smaller than even Tai's feet.

"Hello?" Tai said into the living area as he opened the door, "Look, their shoes are here. Mom? Dad?" He called out again, hoping to hear a single word back from anyone.

"No one's answering," Koromon spoke softly, "Maybe they're out."

"I wonder where they've gone," the boy said, just looking at the interior of his apartment with awe.

"Maybe they've gone to Digiworld," the digimon suggested.

"That's not funny!" Tai scolded. He then walked into the small kitchen, setting his partner on the counter top. He opened the door to the fridge, pulled out his favorite soft drink, and popped it open. The hiss of compressed contents and the scent of the cola filled the air.

Koromon watched, his mouth suddenly dry as Tai drank some of the soda, "Hey, Tai, over here," he said, but the boy went on drinking, "I'm thirsty."

"Sorry," Tai said, pulling the can away from his mouth, "it's the last one."

"What!?" Koromon's ear's stretched out straight, shock on his face that his friend would do that to him.

"You should have asked for some before I finished drinking," the boy said as he looked at the can.

"I can't believe you would be so stingy!" the little guy shouted, waving his ears in the air wildly.

"I was just joking, crybaby," he told the digimon as he looked pensively at the can.

"Really?" Koromon's eyes were large and watery, filled with hope.

"I left you half of it," Tai nodded with a grin, setting the can of cola in front of the little digimon. He used his ears like hands and pulled the opening in the can to his mouth, gulping down the cool, sweet liquid.

"I sure wish I knew where my family was," Tai commented as he closed the door to the fridge, "and how long I've been gone," he leaned against the sink behind himself, "Huh?" He looked towards the fridge again, noticing something hanging from the door by a magnet.

The pink digimon was still savoring the sweet drink. It was so hot outside, and the drink was like nothing the little guy had ever experienced before.

"Ah-hah!" The exclamation nearly caused Koromon to choke.

"Don't scare me like that!" The digimon scolded his partner.

"It's been right in front of me," Tai said, leaning in close to the refrigerator, looking at the day calendar with a cat picture on it, "Today's August first!" He turned to face Koromon, "The same day we landed in Digiworld!"

"We've gone back in time?" the digimon asked.

"Yeah! This is the day the Digivices dropped into our hands and this whole, crazy adventure began! Which reminds me," he said, still looking at the calendar that had marked this as August first, "this is the day my parents were planning to visit my grandma, who lives just outside the city. See?" He pointed to another calendar that had certain days circled on it, "My mom marked this day on the calendar so she wouldn't forget. She must have taken my little sister, Kari, with them. That's why nobody's home now! Cool!" He turned to the pink digimon on the counter, "Let's just kick back and wait for them to come home!"

"Speaking of time," Koromon said, "It's time to eat!"

"Hold your digi-horses," Tai yelled, "I've just learned I'm reliving a day I've already lived!"

"Sorry, Tai," the little guys ears drooped sadly.

"No, I'm sorry, Koromon. I didn't mean to yell, but this same hour, minute and second, have already happened! But I'm home this time!" the wild haired boy exclaimed, "Does that mean I have some twin living in some parallel world?" he stopped and crossed his arms, thinking deeply about all the things that could possibly be going on at that moment.

Before his thoughts could get too deep, a tired sigh was heard.

Koromon blinked in confusion. That didn't sound like Tai. And it was certainly not him.

"What was that?" the digimon asked.

"Huh?" Tai looked at his little buddy. A door began to open and the little guy turned around to face the sound.

"Hear that?" he asked.

"Hi, Tai," a little girl's voice reached his ears. The boy turned around sharply, looking directly at the owner of the voice.

"Kari," he said softly, unbelieving, "You're here?" Kari was about TK's size and eight years old too. She had short, light brown hair like their mother while Tai's was darker brown like their father. Her eyes were a similar light chocolate brown color though. She was leaning against the door frame with one hand, still wearing her pajamas and looking more than a little exhausted. Around her neck was a whistle on a red string.

"Mom and dad left you here at home, all alone?" Tai asked, unbelieving.

"I'm a big girl," Kari protested, "Hi, Koromon."

"Kari, how did you know his name?" her brother asked. He hadn't introduced the two of them.

"Maybe she knows my name because... your sister's a lot smarter than you," Koromon said.

"Cut it out, Koromon! I'm serious!" Tai complained as he held the digimon to the counter with one hand over his mouth, "Now, how did you know his name was Koromon?"

"I don't know, I just knew it," the little girl said, leaning against the door as she watched her brother and his digimon.

"I don't get it," Tai said as his partner stopped struggling to get out of his grip.

"It's like I've met him before, that's why I'm not afraid," she explained, a small smile on her face.

"But that's impossible," the older boy shook his head, "this is the first time he's ever been out of Digiworld."

"Well, maybe that's where we met," Kari suggested.

"You've never been to Digiworld!" Tai griped, then paused, "Have you?"

"I don't know," she said again, "I think so. It's near your camp."

'_Maybe Kari has been to Digiworld,_' her brother thought, looking at the whistle hanging around her neck, '_She did have on that camp whistle. Maybe she goes to my camp in the future and was sucked into Digiworld like I was, but comes back before me._'

While Tai contemplated the possibilities and probabilities of time travel, Kari and Koromon had moved into the living room. The two of them were sitting on the table in the center of the room, playing patty cake. Koromon was having the time of his life, and Kari was just happy to teach the little guy the game that she enjoyed playing with Tai when they were both younger.

_'Grr, I don't know! This moving back and forth, from one time dimension to another, is mega whacked!_' Tai parked in his own head as he watched his sister and partner play, '_No one's ever sure if their here and now, or there and then! Sometimes I feel like I'm where and when, rather than here nor there... What did I just say? I'm confusing myself! I know, maybe Kari and I have a fever and we're both delirious!_' He quickly moved over to the pajama wearing girl and held one bear hand to her forehead while doing the same for himself.

"What's wrong, Tai?" she asked softly, allowing him to check her temperature. Honestly, she really wasn't feeling so hot right now, but she didn't think she looked that bad.

"Nothing," the boy said simply.

"Then why do you think I have a fever?" she asked.

"Huh?" he pulled his hand off his head, looking at his sister strangely. Had she read his mind? Or was he just so used to having her temperature checked because she was sick?

"I'm not sick. And I've been to Digiworld." She had more conviction in her tone now, after spending some more time with the little digimon.

"No way," Tai breathed.

"Well, I think you have," she said to him, "Where else could you find a Koromon?"

Her brother was caught flat footed by that. Where could you find a digimon aside from the digital world?

"The toy store?" It was more a question than an answer and Kari wasn't impressed.

"Oh, please," she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"You do know," Tai realized, "I better call everyone else's house to see if they got home, too."

The boy left his sister and partner where they were to get to the phone. He dialed the first number that came to mind and held the phone up to his ear.

A male voice answered and Tai said, "Hi, is Izzy there, please?...Summer camp? Oh. This is Tai. I came home from, uh, camp early, and I just wanted to see if Izzy did, too...No, everything's just fine, thanks." He tried the next number, "...So, you haven't heard from Sora since she left for summer camp?... Thank you." he was getting rather dejected as he tried another, "...Lucy's still there?... I was just wondering, thanks." He had to try just one more, "...Matt hasn't called home, or anything?...Okay, thank you." Finally, he put the phone back in the cradle.

'_It looks like I'm the only one who got pulled through that rift. Everybody else is still stuck in Digiworld,_' he frowned down at the Digivice in his hand, '_I wish Izzy were here. He could get this stupid Digivice to work and I could go back to Digiworld and rescue the others! There's just gotta be a way to fix this time dimension thing!_'

"Tai," Kari said his name from just behind him, drawing him out of his thoughts again, "I know you're hungry. There's food in the fridge, or you could have my left over piece of pie," she pulled a napkin off a plate, having placed it there to keep the flies off of it.

"I get first dibs this time!" Koromon exclaimed, not wanting another scare like with the can of soda.

"I've got a better idea," the boy began, a smile beginning to dawn on his face as he looked at his sister and digimon, "I'll make us a healthy breakfast!" He moved into the kitchen and grabbed the supplies he'd need. Bowls, a pan, plates, eggs and other ingredients. He cracked open a good number of eggs into a bowl, poured in some salt and pepper and a few other things that would help with the taste. He stayed away from the jelly beans and the cherries. He knew that Mimi and Izzy liked those on their eggs, but he didn't think he should try them right now.

He then poured some of the mixture into a pan and cooked it it, flipping it over a few times. He then did this two more times, setting down the large omelets on the table in front of Koromon and Kari, setting another for himself next to the digimon. Kari marveled at the look and smell of the food. Tai had never done this before he left for camp.

"It's good to be home," Tai said, clapping his hands before him while Koromon said the same thing from beside him. Then the two of them started eating like they hadn't eaten in days.

Kari was the odd girl out, she just took a little slice of the omelet off with her spoon and chewed on it slowly to savor the taste, "Delish!" She smiled.

"You said it!" Tai smiled at her, stopping only long enough before bringing the plate back to his face and gulping down the food again. Kari giggled to herself. He was obviously more hungry than she thought.

"Tai, you never cooked. Did you learn at camp?" She asked him.

"Yeah, my new friend, Matt taught me when our summer camp switched to Digiworld," he told her, swallowing before speaking.

"You're good," she complimented then slid her plate forward after only taking one bite, "I'm stuffed. You guys can eat the rest."

"Glad to!" Koromon said excitedly, pulling the plate over to their side of the table with his surprisingly dextrous ears. The boy and digimon split the foot between them and the mangling of the delicately prepared food was on.

Kari just giggled some more, taking a drink of her milk.

"Aahh," Tai sighed happily, leaning back in his seat and patting his stomach.

"Whoa," Koromon moaned happily. It felt nice being full for once.

"Man, I am so full I wont have to eat for at least a year!" The wild haired boy said.

Suddenly the digimon began to freak out on the table, twitching, shaking, sweating, "Oh boy!" he was even going blue in the face.

"Hey," Tai said, leaning forward again, "What's wrong?"

"Too. Full. Wah!" He froze suddenly. Kari's eyes widened as she realized what the problem was and rushed the little guy to the rest room. She stood just outside the door as he finished his business in there.

The poor little digimon couldn't be more embarrassed. This had to be the worst first impression possible.

"I'd better go rest," Koromon mumbled.

"Don't hide in the bathroom," the little girl told him.

"How embarrassing," he said, "Why do you wanna hang out with someone who's such a pig?"

"'Cause you're cute," Kari told him simply.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said, "Do you want to hear what happened to me at school?" she didn't really wait for a response, just hoping the story would cheer him up, "We took a farm field trip, and I slipped and fell in a pig pen. The kids were laughing at me, 'til Tai jumped in," she smiled as she remembered, "Know what he did? He played in the mud with me, like I did it on purpose."

"Wow," Koromon breathed. He learned something new about his partner all the time and it only made him happier and happier to know him.

"Tai does bug me sometimes," Kari admitted, "But I've got the coolest big brother in the world."

"Yeah," the digimon said softly, smiling a mall smile to himself.

Tai was just laying down on the couch in the living room, still enjoying the feeling of a full stomach. He picked up the TV remote, turning on the tube. Then he picked up another remote and pointed it at the AC unit, turning that on high o he could feel the chill.

"I'm really back," he sighed, looking at the TV with a half lidded look in his eyes and a simple smile on his face. A light tinkling came from somewhere near the AC from the displaced air and Tai grinned, "I used to hate that wind chime, now I love it," he yawned, "And I really miss sitting around, watching TV with my friends. I miss mom scolding dad for not hanging up his shirts," he let out another yawn, "Boy, it's good to be home." He closed his eyes and sank into a light nap, leaving the TV on a random channel.

"_Weather conditions around the world have weather experts puzzled. There's still no rainfall in Southeast Asia and the all the rice paddies are drying up,_" Tai opened his eyes as he heard the news report, looking at the TV. He blinked when he thought he saw a familiar digimon made of flame crouching down on the ground in front of the camera.

"Huh? Meramon," the report switched to the Middle East where they were having a freak flood and a familiar sea snake appeared for a moment, "And there's Seadramon," the feed switched again to show America, a snowman digimon standing on a building in the middle of a cold snap, "What's Frigimon doing here?" Tai had sat up straight be this point, realizing something was very wrong, "Could somebody please tell me what's going on here? The digimon are clearly on the TV screen, but the reporter hasn't mentioned them."

"Finally!" Kari said, coming back from the bathroom with Koromon in her arms, "Somebody else can see them!"

"Huh? Are you saying you can see the monsters, too?" he questioned the eight year old girl.

"For a long time, now," Kari nodded, then turned to look at the screen, "Mom and dad don't believe me. They just think that I watch too many scary movies."

"Kari," Tai breathed. Before he could say more, the power in the apartment building shut off and Tai's Digivice began to go berserk, "Hey," he pulled it off his belt, "what's going on? My Digivice has activated itself!" Behind Kari, the computer turned on, and static and bright colors flashed on the screen.

"Huh?" Kari turned to look at it, "What's wrong with the computer, Tai? There's a face!"

The boy looked up from his device to see the screen of the family computer. He padded over, recognizing a familiar face. The screen was going crazy, and it seemed to have trouble stabilizing, but that was definitely someone Tai knew.

"Can you hear me!?" The person cried.

"Izzy?" Tai asked, unbelieving.

"We- danger!" The feed was cutting in and out, unable to provide the full message.

"Izzy!" the wild haired boy confirmed his thought, staring at the screen.

"They-know-it isn't!" Izzy appeared almost bored, if one only looked at his eyes, "Tai, wherever you may be, don't come back here!" he managed to send through before the next break in the signal.

"I can't just leave you guys there, Izzy, I have to come back. I could be your only chance!" the boy hoped the tech genius could hear him on the other end of this connection.

"Digi-monsters-total chaos!"

"Wait! Izzy! I need help with the Digivice!" Tai cried, holding onto the side of the computer.

"You're better off where you are! Don't come back!" Izzy sent back, maybe able to hear him after all.

"Izzy. Izzy!" the wild haired boy yelled. There would be no reply this time though. The screen went dark. Tai slumped, his arms falling to his sides limply, "While we're here safe at home, my friends are in trouble," he looked to his digivice again.

"What now?" Koromon asked from Kari's hands.

"I don't know, Koromon," the boy said, well and truly stumped, "I just don't know. Two worlds are in danger and I can't do a thing about it. I feel totally useless! I know this digivice is powerful enough to do something, but I don't have a clue on how to make it work," he turned slowly to look at his sister and digimon, "I guess I should give up while I'm still ahead."

"But, Tai, you can't," the digimon told him.

"Why can't I?" Tai demanded, "What am I gonna do? Throw the Digivice at the monsters and they'll get scared and run away?" he turned away from them again. Koromon's ears dropped, and Kari realized that her brother was more stressed than she'd ever seen him before. The brother she was raised with was never a quitter.

"Come on, Tai," she told him, "Just relax. Eat some watermelon." She set Koromon on the table and went to the refrigerator. She tried to pull out the large melon, but it was just a little heavier than she thought it would be.

"Here, let me," Tai said quietly as he came into the kitchen with her. Kari moved aside, letting the boy grab the fruit. He set it on the counter and began cutting it into pieces shaped like triangles. He set a couple plates, with three each, on the table for the girl and digimon, then took his own plate into his bedroom. He looked around the familiar room, mixed feeling abounding in his chest. He was so glad to be home. But he felt so useless by being here. His friends were off, fighting digimon and saving the world, and he knew they could use his help.

He set the plate on the window sill and laid down on the bottom bunk in his and Kari's room. He placed his arms behind his head, just laying there.

'_Kari's right. I need to relax and chill out,_' he looked over at the melon pieces, '_Maybe an idea of what to do will come to me... I hope._'

In the main room of the apartment, Kari was smiling as she watched Koromon enjoy the food he'd been given. The little guy was even eating the seeds of each melon slice. And the cute little crooning he made while he ate were absolutely adorable.

"Boy, oh boy! If there's one thing I truly love, I truly love this watermelon!" he told the girl, only pausing briefly in his eating to speak.

Kari was slowly eating her own piece of melon. She had barely eaten a few bites of one while the little digimon was already nearly done with his second.

"It's sweet, huh?" she asked him with a smile, "You can eat all you want, Koromon."

The little digimon stopped eating, his mouth open, his ears up in the air, and his eyes opened wide. He turned to look at the girl, his eyes going watery with the promise of more and more food.

"Wow! I need another slice!" He grinned at her, thankful for her generosity, "This world is great!" he began a third slice now, chewing that one quickly down to the rind.

"I'm glad you like it here on earth," the girl told him, "because you may be staying here for a while."

"Huh?" He stopped eating again, looking at Kari.

"You may not be returning to Digiworld any time soon, if at all," she explained, "but you are more than welcome to live with us forever." Despite the kind offer, Koromon wasn't sure he could, or wanted to, do that while the rest of their friends were in trouble. He sighed, turning to look out the window at the large Ferris wheel, visible from the apartment.

'_It didn't hit me until just now. I may never get back to my home,_' Koromon finally understood what Tai felt like, being stuck in the Digiworld.

Tai was in a light sleep by that point. He wasn't truly dreaming so much as seeing a bunch of different random images until one stood out among the others.

"Tai," a voice called his name and his perspective shifted to see a very clear image of Lucy and Skymomon laying in the desert sands. They two of them looked to be asleep and half buried in the sand. Just above Lucy was a person wearing beige robes and a hood to hide their face from the nose up.

"Who are you? What did you do to Lucy?" He demanded.

"Lucy is just sleeping. For now. But you need to come back soon. Things are getting worse," the man said, "You don't know how much you meant to the group, Tai."

"I want to get back," he told the man softly, "But I can't figure out how."

Before the man could speak again, a loud, annoying ringing filled the air, "You'll figure it out, my boy. But for now, you may want to answer the phone."

Tai suddenly blinked awake, the dream already half forgotten. He heard the beeping ring of their home phone and sat up. Kari had answered it by the time he opened the door and she was nodding and humming a yes every now and again.

"I'll see you, mom," the girl said.

"Let me hear!" Tai demanded, grabbing the phone out of her hands.

"We might be a little later than planned," the woman on the other end of the line said, "there's supposed to be a storm coming and there might be some heavy traffic coming back into town. Oh, and your grandparents want you and Tai to visit when you get well," Tai's eyes were nearly watering, hearing the voice of his mother for the first time in so long, "Kari, are you listening? Kari? Are you still there honey?"

"Mom?" he eventually breathed into the speaker.

"What? Tai?" His mother asked. Before she could ask anymore, the boy quickly hung up.

"What's happening, Tai?" Kari asked.

"Now I understand," he said, looking at the phone, "Earth is in just as much danger as the Digiworld."

"How?" Koromon asked.

"Digiworld's troubles are slipping through the dimension," he explained his theory.

"What do we do?" the digimon asked.

"There's nothing we can do," Tai told him, "until I figure out how to use the Digivice so we can return to Digiworld and fight the bad digimon," he just kept staring forward as his voice began to crack with his depression and anxiety, "But we'll be okay for now, Koromon, this'll be a nice break. Here we have all kinds of food, and candy and stuff. And we get to sleep in a soft bed, we'll be livin' large!" He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than his partner as he clenched his fists at his sides and quivered from the storm of raw emotion going through him.

"Yeah," Koromon sighed, able to hear the false cheer in his partner's voice.

"Sorry, digi-bud," the human boy sighed as well, "Look, there's lots of things to do out there. That satellite dish is more in touch with the world than we are. We could go to the beach, the movies, take Kari shopping!"

"Yeah," the little guy said, fighting back a sob.

"What am I talkin' about?" Tai demanded of himself, staring at the Digivice again, "My friends because I can't make this piece of techno junk work and I can't do a thing about it!" He clenched the device in his hands, his arm shaking. He whirled around, lifting it into the air to throw it, a scream of exasperation in his throat.

Before he could actually toss it, though, the world around them began to shake.

"What's that?" Koromon asked, looking around.

"Earthquake!" Tai yelled. He then ran to the balcony, looking out into the bay to see if he could see what exactly was going on, "Is it Seadramon again?" just as he asked that there was a massive explosion of water, like something had fallen there, "Oh no!" he cried as the water fell back and he could see the digimon, "Tyrannomon! What's he gonna do?"

The giant dinosaur digimon took a step forward then and breathed a blast of fire. It streaked through the air and hit the side of an open soccer field. It seemed to move faster in this world than Tai had ever seen it before.

The boy ran back into the apartment, passing his sister and digimon as he ran for the door.

"Tai?" Kari questioned as he began to pull on his sneakers.

"Where are you going?" Koromon asked on his own, "What about me and Kari?"

"She stays here!" Tai exclaimed as he grabbed the door handle, "Kari, don't leave for any reason! Koromon and I have to find that dimensional rift!" He took the little pink digimon in arm and opened the door, "We've gotta find a way back to Digiworld!" He ran out then, not hearing his sister cry out.

"No!" she cried, reaching out for him briefly.

+-9

Tai made it out of the building and around the block to street level just in time to see the giant dinosaur digimon fade from view. But if he thought that was the end of it, he was sorely mistake.

Another explosion came from just up the street and another familiar digimon appeard.

"Drimogemon!" he ran by a TV store playing the news on all of the screens in the window. The reporter was saying something about a few viewers all over the place also being able to see the digimon in the broadcasts. Tai and Koromon didn't pay attention as they ran towards the digimon ermergence point, hoping there was a way for them to get back to the digital world if the digimon were coming here.

"There he is!" Tai said, finding the digimon around another corner. The mole digimon was enormous compared to the one they'd seen in the underwater cave. Before either the boy or Koromon could do a thing to get back to the digital world, the digimon faded away again.

"No way!" the boy said, "Maybe this is a dream. The digimon are drifting back and forth between both worlds through that dimensional rift! We have to find it and get through it, before those monsters destroy Earth and Digiworld! It'll take all of us working together to stop them, we've got to get back!"

Koromon hopped out of Tai's grip, a sad look on his face, "Even if we did, I can't help you. In spite of all I've eaten, I can't seem Digivolve, so I can't fight. I'd just get in the way."

"I need you, Koromon," the boy told his partner, "We can't win unless we fight as a team. Don't ou give up now."

"Tai! Koromon! Wait for me! I wanna go with you!" Tai's little sister called as she ran down the street towards them. She paused only long enough to make sure no cars were coming before she crossed to join her brother and his partner digimon.

The two turned around, hoping against hope that the eight year old hadn't actually followed them out here.

Tai ran over to the girl, holding her gently by her shoulders, "Kari, I told you not to leave home. You can't go with us, it's too dangerous!"

"Please, Tai!" the girl begged, desperate to go with her brother, "Oh, please, please!" Koromon turned away, unable to look at such a devastated look on the little girl's face.

But by doing so he noticed something frightening. Across the street, colored in shades of green and lighter and darker green was another dreadfully familiar digimon.

"Ogremon!" the little guy called, "Tai! Kari! It's Ogremon!"

The two turned to look, and indeed, there stood the green monstrosity. He was behind a crowd of people across the street, glaring over at them.

"But the people don't seem to notice him!" Koromon pointed out. Indeed. None of the people were running in fear at the sight of the green monster behind them, they just continued their usual business, waiting for the light to turn or talking on phones.

"What's he doing?" Tai wondered, "He's just standing there, waiting for the light to change!" he moved protectively in front of Kari, "Maybe if we wait, he'll disappear like the others."

The light changed after a few seconds. Ogremon did not disappear. He leapt across the street with a growl, his bone cudgel pulled back for a powerful strike. But instead of going after the children, he swung his weapon at Koromon.

The little pink ball was able to jump away from where the strike would hit, but the attack kicked up a debris field that forced Tai to turn away, protecting Kari with his body.

When the dust cleared, he pulled back from the girl, "Are you okay?"

But her mind was elsewhere, "Koromon?"

"Huh?" Tai looked left and right, but all he could find was the giant crater in the ground where Ogremon had attacked, "Koromon! Where are you!"

Kari suddenly spotted him and pointed at him and Ogremon as the leapt up, higher and higher onto the buildings, using balconies and light fixtures to get ever higher, "He's up there!"

"What?" the boy gasped, watching the little thing with no arms or legs jump around better than any human could despite it.

"He's trying to fight that monster, single handed!" The girl exclaimed.

Koromon bounced off of one building side, forcing himself further into the air and Ogremon was right behind him.

"_Bubble Blow!_" He blew out a stream of bubbles. But the green digimon wouldn't be slowed by pink bubbles. The little digimon bounced off another balcony seconds before Ogremon landed there, cudgel first.

"Koromon!" Tai yelled, clutching his Digivice, "You have to Digivolve!"

"I can't do it unless you use the Digivice!" he yelled back.

"Something's wrong, the Digivice isn't working! You'll have to Digivolve without it!" the boy yelled up to the pink digimon as he jumped about like he'd been doing it his whole life.

"I just can't!" the little guy called back.

"You _can_ do it, Koromon!" Kari said, holding her fists before her as she watched the battle.

The distraction of their conversation was all Ogremon needed to get in close. Koromon, and a corner apartment were sent flying when Ogremon hit, destroying most of the apartment.

Koromon cried out in fear as he began to fall.

"Koromon!" Tai cried out and finally his Digivice began to react, "Digivolve!"

The pink ball glowed in mid flight and the light from the Digivice struck him as well.

"Look!" the wild haired boy cried out as a yellow light appeared in the sky and began to emit a sucking force. The loose debris from the battle was being lifted into the sky by it and that wasn't all, "The rift has opened up like a dimensional vacuum cleaner! Koromon, help!

"Koromon, Digivolve to Agumon!"

The yellow dinosaur was back again. He flipped through the air and landed on a street light in a crouch.

"Hurry, Agumon!" Tai pleaded, still trying to protect Kari as the debris near them began to float upwards as well.

Ogremon jumped towards Agumon, forcing himself to fly downwards faster than gravity would pull him, ready to hit him with the bone cudgel and end this fight.

"_Pepper Breath!_" When Agumon opened his mouth to spit out a fire ball, Tai was shocked to see an _explosion_ fly through the air at sonic speed. It struck the green monster, driving him back into the rift.

"Take a hike!" Tai shouted at the green monster.

But the victory did not have long to be celebrated as, soon, Agumon began to lift into the sky as well.

"Agumon!" the boy cried, reaching out for him, "Come baaaaack!"

The yellow dinosaur began to fade away as he floated further upwards, "I'm needed. In Digiworld. I'll never forget you, my friends. Thanks for your help." he faded away completely, going to the digital world.

"Wait, take me with you," Tai pleaded, "you still need my help. Agumon- uh?" He tried to step forward into the gravitational pull of the rift, but a grip on his hand stopped him.

"Tai," Kari cried, "Stay with me!"

"No," he said, not looking at her, "Go wait for mom and dad."

Kari moved forward, still holing onto his arm and burying her head in his side, "I'm sorry."

"Why?" her brother asked, confused as to why she would be so.

"You're right. I know you have to leave," he could hear the depression in her tone.

"I really do," he nodded, his gaze on the ground, "Okay?"

"Okay," Kari agreed. She really didn't want him to go, but she understood it. He needed to go. His friends needed him.

Tai held out his Digivice again, looking at it as the screen glowed blue, "Agumon can't Digivolve without me. This is my fight, too!" He clutched the device in his left hand and began to be lifted towards the brightly glowing rift in the sky. He looked down at Kari sadly. She was still holing his hand, wishing she never had to let him go.

"Please be careful," she told him. She slowly allowed him to slide out of her grip till she was holding him by the wrist, then only by the fingers. Finally, she let him go and he rapidly ascended into the light.

"Goodbye, Kari," he said to her.

"Bye bye, Tai! Don't forget about me!" she shouted after him. She stood there and watched, helplessly, as he brother floated away to face an unknown danger. She watched as the light stopped and the rift closed. She watched as the sky returned to it's normal color and the people acted like they hadn't seen any of it. Her eyes began to gather tears in the corner as she wished, from the bottom of her innocent heart, that she could have gone with him, that she could help him.

And back at her apartment, on their dining table, was a little digital device, the screen glowing with a blue light.

Chapter Eighteen: End.

Please Enjoy.


	19. Chapter 19 The Dark Room

Some Artistic License is being used in this chapter.

Chapter Nineteen: The Dark Room

When Lucy fell asleep that final time, drifting off into a darkness that couldn't end on it's own, she never knew that the food stores she'd found were poisoned. To be fair, they hadn't been when he'd first found them. That first night, a little digimon that looked like a beach ball crossed with a bat entered their camp site.

He had black fur, a blue mask thing over the top of him with a skull print on the front, between his eyes and two bird like feet with red claws. Out of the top of his mask, two wings beat against the air energetically to keep him afloat.

"Let's see," the little digimon whispered to himself as he held a vial of blue liquid in one claw, "the Master said three drops in the water and six on the grub. With this, the twerp will never wake up." He had to restrain his laughing, lest one of the targets of his misfortune actually come to see what was going on. That would be unfortunate. For him. The Master didn't like failure.

The evil little digimon deposited the poison in the food stuffs and the water supply then moved on. There were other brats to be taken care of.

"I'll just leave you to the Mummymon," the digimon grinned as he tapped a stone on the side of the fallen pyramid. It had not always been Etemon's base of operations, after all. A secret passage opened up to reveal a set of glowing, purple eyes in the darkness.

"Hey there, Mummymon!" the little digimon said with a malicious grin, "I bet you guys would like to know who's responsible for destroying your pyramid, right?" several more eyes appeared in the darkness, "Well, they're right over there." They began to move forward, "Hey, hey! Be patient! You'll get your chance, you just gotta wait a little bit," a hissing groan came from deep within the pyramid, "Trust me, pal, er, pals, you don't want to underestimate these kids. Give it a week or two, then she's all yours." With that, the little digimon winged away, not to be seen again for some time.

The purple eyes glowed brightly for another second before they closed, all but one pair, and the stone cover of the secret passage closed again. The digimon could wait. They'd waited thousands of years to return to the world, they could wait another couple of weeks to grab the one that destroyed their pyramid.

The next morning, Lucy and Skymomon woke up, hungry as usual, and didn't think to check for any kind of poison in the food. Even if they had, they probably wouldn't have known how.

"This food tastes a little funny," Skymomon said, taking a bite of a loaf of bread.

"Do you think it's gone bad?" Lucy asked, looking at the half eaten apple in her hand. She hadn't noticed anything wrong with the taste.

"Nah," the little blue monkey shook her head, "Just tastes funny."

"I bet it's like my dad says," Lucy said after a moment, "He says that, if you mix up a bag of chips with a couple other bags, the flavors of the three types get all mixed up and it tastes weird. I bet the same thing happened here. We're keepin' all different kinds of stuff in one place. Maybe the taste is bleeding over."

"I guess so," the digimon shrugged. Despite the taste, they kept eating.

A few days later was when they noticed that, when they woke up, the sun was higher and higher in the sky.

"I think we're sleeping later," Lucy said through a yawn on the fourth day. She was thankful for the pyramid's dwindling resources. Specifically, Etemon's bedroom. The guy was a total digi-creep, but he had good taste in blankets. And a surprisingly large collection of teddy bears. Currently they were using one of his sheets as a food back, his blankets for some bedding, and set up his bed in such a way with another one of his sheets to provide shade.

It wasn't easy to do, and Skymomon ended up having to Digivolve and break down a few walls to get the bed out there. When the monkey asked Lucy why she wasn't just sleeping inside, she told her that if Tai came back, she wanted to know the instant it happened. And if they were outside, he'd find them right away.

"What do you think is happening?" Skymomon asked, still feeling drowsy herself. It would be so easy to just go back to sleep right then.

"I don't know," Lucy said. She struggled to her feet, and began to move about through the usual morning rituals. Her body was stiff and her movements jerky. It was like her body was telling her to just go back to sleep. Eventually, she worked her way through it. Skymomon helped, the two of them going to a nearby oasis to bathe. The cold water helped to wake them up, but it turned out to be a temporary fix. The next day they woke up even later, and had to fight harder to stay awake.

Around day ten, Lucy finally figured out something was wrong with them. They weren't just sleeping later. Something was putting them to sleep and keeping them that way.

"Skymomon," Lucy said, barely awake some time in the late afternoon, "You have to go find help," she breathed. She was only able to keep one eye open, and even that was fight.

Skymomon was a little more durable than the human girl. She slowly got to her feet, and beat her wings a couple times. She failed to achieve lift and sighed sadly.

"I'll have to walk it," the monkey said, looking back at her partner who was already sleeping again. The two of them had only been up for a couple hours now, but it felt like they hadn't slept in days.

The monkey just kept walking forward for another ten minutes before she fell back to the ground. The sleep was deep and dreamless, like time just passed ultra quickly between each night. After that first attempt, the little monkey realized that she'd never get anywhere quick enough to save her partner. Better to just be by her side.

The trek back, all of the ten minutes it took, were horribly long to the monkey digimon. She kept passing out along the way. It was like the world began working against them. Lucy was already asleep again, or maybe she simply hadn't woken up, by the time Skymomon curled up beside the girl.

The sun was high in the sky, and the heat blasting down like it had nowhere else to go, but nothing served to wake the girl and her digimon. They never knew it when something came out of the pyramid a couple days later. They didn't feel it as they were wrapped up in ancient bandages. Their snoring didn't even break when they were set inside a couple of golden sarcophagi, made to their sizes.

The only eventual difference that Lucy felt, was when the endless darkness shifted to a familiar dark room. She still felt sluggish in her thoughts and movement, but at least she was awake in this place.

"Is anyone here?" she called out. Her voice echoed in the endless void of this place, but other than that there was no answer. She slowly got to her feet and turned to face that single mote of light off in the distance again. She wasn't sure what that was, but she was going to reach it this time.

She took two steps before a familiar voice echoed through the void behind her.

"That's a good idea," he spoke, "This darkness is a lot less inviting than the light, isn't it?"

Lucy looked over her shoulder to see that man, beige robes and all, standing there again.

"You going to tell me who you are this time?" she asked.

"Nah," the man said with a grin, "That will come with time."

"Hmph!" Lucy turned her nose up at him and turned to keep walking. She heard the foot steps of the man as he walked along with her. "Why are you following me?" She demanded.

"Have you seen this place?" the man asked, "It's all darkness and echoes. It's boring. You're the most interesting thing to happen to this place in... forever! I think I'll just follow you around for a little while, see what you do, who you meet."

"Whatever," the girl intoned, walking determinedly towards the light. The more she walked and moved, the less tired she felt, which was kind of odd, all things considered.

The man, just as promised, followed her. He remained silent, which she thanked him for silently. She wasn't entirely trustful of the guy. He shows up out of the blue, seems to know who her real parents were, but wouldn't tell her anything about them. What kind of jerk does that? And showing up in this dark place? Totally creepy.

"Hey," the man whined, "I'm not creepy."

Lucy stopped and whirled around to look at the man, "Did you just read my mind!?"

The man stopped walking as well, rubbing the back of his hooded head sheepishly, "Um, no?"

'_You creepy, annoying, dark dwelling, __sock smelling, lizard throwing, golf ball eating, monkey's uncle!_'

"Oh, yeah!" The man said, stepping one step forward and holding his fist out before him, "Well, you're... grinning like you just won the game?"

Lucy stood there with her hands on her hips, "You can read my mind, I knew it!" then she frowned, pointing at him accusingly, "You read my mind!"

"Yeah," the guy said slowly, standing back up to his full height, "you just proved that."

"Well, cut it out!" she demanded as she whirled around, crossing her arms angrily.

"Hey, I wouldn't read your thoughts if you weren't thinking so loud," he told her.

"Hmph!" she turned her nose up again. She started walking away from him again, studiously ignoring the sound of his footsteps. So what if he could read her thoughts! She wasn't going to let that top her. She was going to reach that light. Maybe then she could figure out why she'd fallen asleep so much lately.

"Ha! That one's simple," the man said as he picked up his pace to stand in front of her. He had his arms be hind his head as he walked backwards, a smug grin on his face.

"Oh, yeah? Then why don't you tell me what happened?" Lucy glared at him.

"Nah," he shrugged, "I don't think I should. You're being a brat."

"And you're annoying!" Lucy growled at him.

"And you're short," he replied.

"What?" she blinked then resumed scowling, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You mean you never heard that old saying? Height makes right?" he asked her.

Lucy palmed her face, but didn't stop walking, "It's 'Might makes right,' you annoying creep."

"Yeah, but my version is cooler, and more relevant. I'm tall, you're short, you're wrong, I'm right. Height makes right," he grinned down at her, "See, makes a little more sense now, doesn't it."

"Gah!" the girl cried, holding her head in pain.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You just broke my brain!" she yelled.

"Huh?" He tilted his head to one side, "How did I do that?"

"By talking!" Lucy snapped.

"How would that work?" she didn't see it in the darkness of his hood, but the man's eyes widened, "Oh my word! I've got super powers! That's what you meant, right?" he didn't wait for her to respond before he spun in place like he was transforming or something. When he faced her again, he had his hands on his hips and was holding his head high with his chest puffed out. "Worry not, little girl," he told her in a deepened, 'heroic' voice, "For I have come to save you. I will use the brain breaking power of my randomly developed sonic attack to solve your problems."

"_You_ are my problem!" the girl eventually snapped, "Just be quiet for two seconds, you spaz!"

"..." the man actually was quiet after that. Not even opening his mouth.

"Thank you," Lucy said, rubbing the sides of her temples. Great, the only adult that existed in this entire dark place, and he had to be more childish than TK.

"You're welcome," he chirped. Lucy's green eyes slowly opened in a fiery glare that had the guy flinching away from her, "What?"

"You. Are. Talking. Again. _Why!?_" she said through clenched teeth, her hands in fists by her side.

"Hey, my two seconds was up," he said simply, still flinching away from the girl.

"mgntscm," she mumbled something incoherently.

"What?" he asked, leaning closer.

"'Mgintscrm," she said a little more clearly.

The man reached into his hood, digging in his ear with a pinky to remove excess wax, "One more time, with feeling."

"I'm going to scream," she finally said audibly.

"Oh!" The man said, grinning as he finally got it, "Wait, what?"

"EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeek!" The shrill screech of a ten year old girl screaming in rage filled the void for distances unknown. She closed her eyes tight, clenched her hands into fists and put her very all into the scream. Some might say, if they'd seen her, that a tremor had gone up her body to her throat where she released the shout.

The man was leaning back as the wind from the scream whipped at his robed, one hand on his hood and the other waving about wildly to try and keep his balance.

The scream stopped after a few seconds. Lucy took a deep breath, smoothed out her clothing, and released it. She now had a smile on her face as she started walking again, a little bounce in her step.

"I feel better," she said simply.

"G-good for you," the man stuttered, seemingly frozen in place for a moment before he finally fell over onto his back.

After a couple seconds the man got back up and started following her again. He was twisting a pinky in one of his unseen ears again, though this time checking for damage instead of wax.

"Sheesh, kid, you've got one heck of a pair of lungs," he said from her left side.

"I like to swim," she said by way of explanation.

"And you probably do it well, too," the man nodded.

"Well, I'm thinking about joining the swim team when I go to high school," she stopped, remembering how she felt at home in the Digiworld, "if I go to high school."

"I guess that one's up to you," he told her, walking along now, matching her movements. When she took a step with her right foot, so did he. When she rubbed her brow, so did he. When she sneezed, so did he.

She noticed it almost immediately, but decided not to call him on it. No need to get another headache so soon after the last one. If she kept screaming like that, she might lose her voice permanently instead of keeping the cool rasp she had to it now.

"You said you knew my parents, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, they were good people," he said, "fighters, the both of them."

"How did they get to Digiworld? Did they get sent as kids like me and just grow up out there?"

"Nope," he told her, "Your mom and dad were made in the digital world."

"What?" Lucy looked at him. He was still copying her actions so he was looking out into the void away from her, getting her to frown at him. "How is that possible? I mean, you said I was born in the Digiworld, and I guess I know that's right, but how did my parents get born here? Are there a lot of people around, we just never see them?"

"I dunno, about the whole lotta people thing," the man said, "I haven't been to Digiworld for a long time, so things might have changed drastically since I've seen it."

"Why not? Did you get kicked out for being annoying?" Lucy theorized.

"Hey! I'll have you know that your parents loved my quirky personality," he told her indignantly.

"Some say quirky, others say ADD," she grinned.

The man chuckled for a moment at that, before he heaved a great sigh. He finally stopped copying her motions, just walking beside her with his arms behind his back.

"What?" the girl asked, "What's wrong?"

"Your mother used to say that to me all the time," he told her, looking at her with a wistful smile, "I feel bad when I think about how you missed growing up with them."

"About that-"

"They loved you without equal," the man said seriously for once, "Don't ever think otherwise."

Lucy looked up at him again, still walking, not wanting to stop until the mote of light looked at least a little larger. She had wondered about what her real parents must have thought of her when they just dropped her off at the orphanage. They didn't even wait around. The note they pinned to her only said that she was to be named Lucy. That didn't really sound like something a loving parent would do.

"Then why did they leave me?" she asked softly, looking at the light in the distance again. It might have been just her, but the light actually looked smaller.

"Digiworld is a dangerous place," he told her, "You've seen how bad it can be, what with Devimon and then Etemon. There are even worse bad guys out there. Stronger, too. They couldn't keep you safe there, so they sent you with a friend to the human world."

"..." Lucy was silent, contemplating that. She listened to everything that the man said and thought about everything she knew about this worlds enemies. She came to one conclusion. "They're... dead, aren't they?"

The man sighed from beside her, "Yeah. It happened long after you were sent to the human world. An evil digimon got them."

"Is he the one that sent you here?" Lucy asked, trying to change the subject.

"Got it in one," the man said cheerfully, but she could still hear the sadness in his tone. His sadness was making her sad. He seemed to pick up on her depression and get even more sad, too, and it turned into a never ending loop. She'd have preferred it if he was still an annoying punk.

"How do we get out of here?" she asked him then.

"We don't," he said, crossing his arms.

"What?" Lucy turned to him, "You mean I'm stuck?"

"Yeppers," he said, "Stuck like a pig in the muck."

"And why are you so cheerful about it?" she asked, annoyed.

"'Cause," he smiled, "If there's a way in, there must be a way out."

"Well, do you know how to get out?" she demanded.

"Not a clue," he nodded to himself, "But you know something? That little dot of light way out there? That wasn't here until you showed up," he smiled again, wider than ever, "I think that might be the way to go."

Lucy looked at the light again, keeping up her steady pace. It was still small, and she was actually sure that it really was smaller than when she started now. If she was reading this right, that meant that it was farther away. And it it still looked to be shrinking.

"It's getting farther away," she said.

"Yeah, it does look like that, don't it?" the man tilted his head to one side, "This is gonna definitely take a while."

"Yeah, a while," the girl mumbled, "like the rest of our lives."

"Well," the man said, "I guess now is as good a time as any for my secret weapon."

"Oh boy," Lucy drawled, "What now?"

"Hey, I may not look it, but I'm brilliant," he said, reaching into his robe and pulling out a piece of paper, "Just check out this complicated equation I came up with that will allow pigs to achieve lift velocity."

Lucy took the paper, looked at it for a second, side as she turned it right side up, then looked back at him.

"What is this exactly?" she asked him.

"I told you," the man said smugly, "I came up with an an equation to-"

"Yeah, I got that part," she said with half lidded eyes, "But how does that have anything to do with this picture of a..." she paused to decipher the barely legible hand writing, "Werebunnymon chewing on..." she paused again, "Metaltyrannomon?"

The man snatched the picture away from her, looking over the crayon drawing of a bunny standing on it's hind legs like a human. It had a thought bubble above it's head of a dinosaur made of carrots and was currently gnawing on the toe of a Metal covered version of Tyrannomon. The look on the much, _much_ bigger digimon's face actually looked a lot like the one on Lucy's face when she saw the picture.

"Oh, um, I drew that in my spare time," He stuffed it back in his robes and began fiddling around with more papers. The girl could even here them shifting in his robes.

"Do you have a filing cabinet in there or something?" she asked him.

He ignored her for a moment, avidly looking for the piece of paper with the math on it that he'd done a long time ago. He sighed after a few moments when he couldn't find it.

"I must have lost that particular bit of hard copy somewhere," he said, his head bowed, but he perked right back up, "But the point I was trying to make is, by being taller, I have access to purer oxygen which makes me smarter, so you should listen to me."

"And we're back to the being taller thing," Lucy said, crossing her arms.

"Yep," he chirped, "So, are you ready for this one? It'll knock your socks off."

"I await your words of wisdom, oh tall one," she said sarcastically.

"The easiest way to make the time pass more quickly is," he paused, holding his fists against his waist again, "to sing!"

Silence. If there were crickets in this place, they would be chirping.

"C'mon," he said, ignoring the deadpan look she was giving him, "It'll be fun. We'll sing a happy song while we walk and, before you know it, we'll be at that bright light!"

"How about you start, and I'll join in when I feel like it?" She suggested.

"Good enough for me!" He turned towards the light again and began to march in place for a few moments, the echoes of his feet hitting the ground setting the beat, "One. Two. One. Two." He chanted that for a little bit then began to sing a very well known song.

"In the land, where I was born, there lived a ma-a-an, who sailed to sea!" he actually had a pretty nice singing voice. Song choice could use some work though, "And he told us, of his life, in the la-a-and, of submarines!"

Lucy groaned, her adoptive dad loved that song, too. Just her luck that this moron knew it. She walked past him as he continued marching as he sang. She picked up the pace, trying to get away from him without seeming rude, but he just widened his steps, easily able to keep up. There actually were a couple benefits to being taller after all.

+-9

The singing went on for hours. Lucy was getting a headache from it. He hadn't kept singing Yellow Submarine the whole time, thankfully. But his song choice was that, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, The Song That Never Ends, Ring Around The Rosie, and I Love Rock And Roll. The last one wasn't so bad, and Yellow Submarine was stuck in her head like the worst of them.

"Alright!" he said suddenly, holding his hands towards her like he was pointing a microphone at her, "Just the girls now!"

"No," she said simply, "not happening."

"Right then!" he held the 'mic' to his own mouth, "Just the boys again! John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, your name is my name, too!"

Lucy was holding her head with a grimace, the singing actually causing her real physical pain now. And it was spreading now. Down from her head, into her eyes. It began to spread into her stomach, then her arms and legs. She doubled over, falling to her hands and knees.

"What's, agh, what's happening to me?" She cried, holding her head with both hands.

"Lucy, what are you-?"

"Something's coming!" She screeched suddenly.

The world... trembled. Not like an earthquake. An earthquake only shook the ground. Whatever this was, everything was shaking wildly. Lucy was now screaming with fear and pain.

The man had stopped singing and looked around. He didn't look to be affected by the shaking of the entire world. He glared into the distance from behind his hood. He turned to the pink haired girl and grasped her gently by the shoulders.

"Lucy," he said her name with more force than she'd ever heard, "Lucy, listen to me. You have to run."

"It, gck, it hurts," she whimpered, "I-I'm scared!"

"I know you are, honey," he told her, still in that steely tone, "but right now you have to run. You have to get to the light."

"I, grah, I can't move," she cried, tears coming out of her eyes. She was curling up into a ball, unable to move with the fear and pain coursing through her entire body.

The man looked down at her and sighed. He bent down and picked her up.

"What are you, guh, doing?" she gasped out.

"We have to get you to that light," he told her simply, running as fast as he could, "I can get you half way," he told her, "But that's as far as I can go."

Before the little girl could ask him what he meant by that, a roar rumbled through the air.

"What was, nng, that?" he asked him, cracking open an eye.

"Let's just say they're not here to deliver pizza," he said as he ran. Lucy tried to look around him, "I wouldn't," he warned. Lucy ignored him, wondering what it was that made her feel so much pain and fear. She wrestled herself into position to look over his shoulder.

She immediately wished she hadn't.

It was a writhing mass of black tendrils and teeth. And it was coming right for them. It was flying forward at great speed, clawing the ground to pull itself along faster. She immediately ducked back down.

"It's gaining on us," she forced out in a pained gasp.

The man looked over his shoulder, "Oh boy." He looked forward again, picking up the pace. She barely noticed it when his feet stopped impacting the ground all together. He was literally flying along.

"Lucy," he said around ten second's later, "I'm gonna have to stop soon. I can't go much further."

"But that thing," Lucy breathed, "It'll get us!"

He gave her a sad smile, "Not both of us. Not if I distract it."

"No, no way!" she hook her head, "You may be annoying, but I'm not letting you die for me!" she was fighting her way past the pain to talk, and it was getting a little easier as she got used to it.

He smiled a little wider at that, "Your mother said that to me before, too."

"What-?"

"Now, you have to run, Lucy," he stopped, and set her down on her feet. She wobbled for a moment and he steadied her.

"I could stay and fight with you," she suggested.

"No, it's destroy you without thinking about it," he told her, "You have to run. Run as fast as you can."

The roaring grew closer, and closer while they stood talking. The man turned around to face the monster.

"Run, Lucy," he ordered, the steel back in his tone.

"I can fight," she insisted, holding her fists up.

"Maybe someday," the man told her as he dashed forward to meet the darkness head on, "Now, RUN!"

Lucy didn't move though. She couldn't. It was like watching Tai and Metalgreymon fight Etemon all over again. She could feel it in her bones that the darkness wouldn't go down without taking the man with it. And there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm so useless," she sobbed, tears pouring out of her eyes as she watched the man zipping around the mass of tendrils and teeth, punching it and kicking it. He was dodging most of the things attacks, but it was lashing at him with tentacles from every angle and some of them were getting through his defenses.

"Run!" He yelled when he noticed her just standing there, "You have to run!" He was slammed to the ground in his second of inattention. The tendrils formed into a large hammer, smashing into him, again and again.

"I can't!" Lucy screamed, holding the sides of her face as she watched the man being hit over again.

"You, ah!, can!" He reached out towards her, "I believe, ah!, in you, ah!, Lucy!"

And suddenly, that familiar warmth appeared in her chest again. She hadn't even known it was missing. But it came back with a vengeance. The pain inside her seemed to recoil away from it, burning up in her veins, till it was only a numb sensation in her head. A second later, that was gone too.

She opened her eyes, having closed them so she didn't have to see the man being crushed, and saw that there was another source of light in the darkness. Her. She was emitting a pure, white light from every inch of herself. The monster noticed this and began to move towards her, but the man held it back.

"You believe in me?" Lucy asked him, her voice sounding a little ethereal as she held her hands to her chest, the focal point of the warmth spread throughout her.

"Of course," he grunted, holding the beast back by one of the monstrous tendrils, "You can do anything! As long as you believe!"

Lucy smiled softly as the warmth grew in her, "Okay then."

"What?" he grunted as he slid forward a few more feet, the beast pulling itself closer to the girl.

"Okay," she looked up, and her eyes glowed brightly, too, now, "If you believe in me, then so will I. And," she grinned up at him, the light coming from her, "I'll believe in you, too!"

The man suddenly found his dwindling strength returning, then growing. He blinked in momentary confusion, but he didn't let himself get distracted for long. With a grunt and a heave he pulled the monster backwards. It's clawed tendril scraped along the ground, and it roared angrily, but it began to lose ground.

"You have to go, now!" the man shouted over the thing's roaring.

"I know," she said back, the echoing of her voice reaching him easily, "but I'll be back. And I'll save you." She turned around and started to run to the light.

The man grinned a happy grin, "I know you will," he said softly, "I have Faith in you." He then tightened his hold on the creature of the darkness and through it away from himself, back the way they had come from.

"I promise," Lucy said finally, "I _will_ be back. And next time I'll help you fight!" With that, the girl reached the light, which was glowing brighter than ever, and stepped through it.

Back in the dimension, the man's hood had slipped off, showing long, bright pink hair, "That's my girl," he said proudly before turning back to the roaring mass of darkness, "Now, I think you and I need to have a chat about your intentions towards my daughter."

+-9

Lucy woke up in a storm of dust and debris falling all around her, standing over her was the familiar form of SkyYetimon, and on the ground, all knocked out cold, were a bunch of mummies with spikes on their shoulders.

"Lucy!" SkyYetimon said, "Thank goodness you woke up! I knew you would," She smiled, lifting the girl up in her large hands and blocking the debris from the pyramid from hitting the girl, "I could feel my energy growing from you."

"Yeah," Lucy said with a smile as she hugged her friend, "It was a close call, though."

"C'mon, Lucy," the yeti said to her, "Let's get out of here." She leapt upwards, breaking through the brittle and crumbling stone roof, covering the human girl's head with one large hand.

By the time they broke out of the pyramid, there was a major sand storm kicking up outside. It nearly knocked SkyYetimon out of the air, forcing the digimon to land or risk injury to her partner. The large digimon crouched down, holding the girl close to her body and shielded them both from the whipping winds and blinding sands with her quartet of wings.

After a half minute or so, the storm died down, and Lucy heard a familiar voice. A voice she'd missed for a long time now.

"Great! Some welcome home!" the boy's voice cried.

"Tai?" Lucy looked up into her digimon's eyes.

"This is right where we left them. Where could they have gone?" It was another Male voice, but distinctly different from the first.

"Agumon?" SkyYetimon questioned.

The girl and digimon stood up, the flying yeti standing noticeably taller than the human.

"SkyYetimon?" Tai questioned, seeing the digimon first, "Then that must mean-"

"Tai!" the little girl cried, running forward and catching the boy in a tackling hug. He was nearly knocked off his feet.

"Lucy! Whoa!" He laughed, hugging the girl back, "It's good to see you, too." He saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eyes and saw Skymomon winging over. Obviously the digimon had reverted to her smaller form.

"What happened to you?" the monkey asked, "Everyone was worried about you."

"I know it sounds hard to believe," the boy began, "But I think I went back in time. And Digimon are attacking the human world! If we don't stop the bad stuff happening here, it's gonna destroy our world, too!" He looked around, noticing that, aside from him, Lucy and their digimon, the desert was empty, "Hey, where are the others?"

"It's a long story, Tai," the girl told him, pulling out of the hug, "we should probably walk while I tell you."

With that, the four of them set off to find their friends. Tai listened to what Lucy told him with a surprised look on his face. He never realized he was that important to the group. He'd have to apologize to everyone later. He couldn't believe he'd actually thought about just staying home while everyone else was still stuck in Digiworld.

"Well, I'm back now," he told her, "So let's go get everyone back and save both worlds!" He grinned confidently at her, causing the good cheer to spread to her own face. She nodded, and they picked up the pace, going in the direction of a forest they could see nearby. Surely, they could find one of their friends there.

Chapter Nineteen: End.

Please Enjoy. I do not own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter.


	20. Chapter 20 Forget About It

Chapter Twenty: Forget About It

Not long after Lucy explained the situation, Tai's Digivice started beeping out an alert. He pulled it off of his belt, looking at the screen.

"Hey, Lucy," he said to the girl who was walking beside him, "Check this out. It looks like I've got radar or something." He turned the face of his little device towards the girl.

"I think you might be right," she told him, looking at the screen. There were three red dots on the screen. Two were right next to each other in the center of the small screen and another was off in the direction of the forest. "I think this is us," Lucy said, pointing at the center of the screen.

"Yeah," Tai said, turning it back around so he could see it. He turned it in his hand so the antenna was pointing in different directions, seeing if the image would spin, instead it jut blanked out until he pointed it in the right direction again, "And, if that way is north, then we need to go north northwest a couple of clicks to find one of the others."

"Very impressive, Tai," Agumon said, following the two humans with Skymomon on his left, "You really sound like you know what you're doing."

"I'll say," Lucy agreed, "Since when did you get all knowledgeable about this stuff?"

"I just watch a lot of TV," the wild haired boy grinned at the praise.

"Wow," Skymomon said, "Maybe I should watch TV, too, then I can become really smart like Tai."

Lucy giggled at the sheepish grin on the boy's face when he heard that, "It doesn't quite work that way, Skymomon. Not everything on TV is good to watch."

"How do you know the good stuff from the bad stuff?" the little monkey asked, "Do the bad ones have black gears?"

"No," the pink haired girl shook her head, "They don't have black gears or anything. But they can put you to sleep."

"Bleh!" The monkey stuck her tongue out in distaste, "I've had enough sleep for a month!"

"I know how ya feel," Lucy said, thinking back to the mysterious man she'd had to leave to the darkness, "I'm not ready to saw logs yet either."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tai asked.

"Did something happen to you two while you were waiting for us?" Agumon asked with concern.

"We don't really know what happened," Skymomon told them, "But, one day, we just started sleeping later and later. Finally we just stopped waking up. I don't know how long we were down, but at some point, an ancient digimon called Mummymon must have found us. Next thing I know, I'm flooded with energy from Lucy and Digivolving. I beat up the Mummymon, found her, and we escaped from the pyramid."

"Wow," the human boy said, looking up from the screen of his Digivice momentarily, "Anything you remember about it, Lucy?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I remember a dark room. I was there for hours and hours with this really annoying dork in a dark hood. He just kept singing, going on about how being taller made him smarter and he was just so annoying, you know?" she paused then, an annoyed frown on her face, "But then the idiot turns all hero on me," she said softly, "Sayin' stuff like how he believes in me, tells me I have to believe in myself while his fighting this monster. I figured, if that dork could believe in me, then I would too. Then..." she paused again, thinking about it for a moment, "then I promised I'd be back. He may be an annoying dork, but he saved me. I'm going to return the favor."

"Wow, Lucy," Agumon breathed, "That must have been some weird place you went."

"Got that," she nodded.

Silence filled the air after that, aside from the beeping of Tai's Digivice. They could only barely see the forest in the distance, and before that, the desert slowly turned into grass land. A stream was nearby, but everyone was more concerned with finding another member of their group than getting a fresh drink.

"Just what is a 'click', anyway?" Agumon finally asked.

"Check it out, everyone," Skymomon said, pointing into the distance. Tai looked up from the map on his screen, Lucy looked down from the sky, contemplating how she was supposed to save a goofball, and Agumon looked away from his partner.

Not a single one of them couldn't see the beauty of the panoramic view.

"Look at this place! Where are we?" Tai asked.

"I don't know, but it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen!" Agumon said from beside him.

"The temperature is so much lower than in the desert," Lucy sighed in content.

"It's a wonderland," Skymomon said with a grin.

They had stumbled onto a magnificent view in any book. The stream they were walking along side had widened out somewhat, and deepened. A red brick bridge crossed it, leading into the speckled trees. The stream, just a little way down from the bridge, bled into a huge lake. All around the lake, and as far as the eye could see in front of them was forest. It looked like the kids had finally left the desert behind.

"C'mon!" the boy called out, running forward. Agumon was on his heels as usual, with Lucy and Skymomon coming in next. They crossed the bridge, smiles on their faces, wondering what they would find here. And, as it just so happened, the beeping from Tai's Digivice was coming quicker, the dot of light glowing bright. "The signal's getting stronger!" he said to the trio running with him.

Tai stopped running, looking at the screen of his device. The beeping was coming out really fast now and the map on his screen said they should be right on top of whoever was here now.

"What is it?" the monkey digimon asked.

"Who is it?" the yellow dinosaur tried.

"It's Tokomon!" Lucy said, pointing forward. There, laying at the edge of the lake and looking a little worse for wear, was the little shark toothed pig thing that was Tokomon. At his feet lay TK's Digivice and the Crest of Hope. The two kids and their partners crossed the last twenty feet or so to reach the little guy. He was asleep on his side, his long ears drooping to the ground.

"It's him, alright," Tai said, kneeling next to the digimon, and taking him into hand, "But where's TK? And why'd he leave his Crest and Digivice here? What happened, little guy? Are you alright?" the boy asked.

"Not... exactly," Tokomon said, his little black eyes showing his depression. He blinked a couple of times before opening his eyes fully, "You look like Tai," he blinked again, "You are Tai! You're alive!"

"Yeah," the boy grinned, "last time I checked."

"I'll bet a black gear digimon got you, right?" Agumon suggested.

"No," the little digimon shook his head, "if it was something simple, like that, I wouldn't feel so bad," he jumped out of Tai's grip, landing so he was looking at the Crest and Digivice sadly.

"What happened, Tokomon?" Lucy asked, crouching down right next to him.

"Yeah, where's TK?" Tai added.

"Probably off playing with his new friend," the digimon said, sounding a little bitter about that fact.

"What new friend?" the wild haired leader asked.

"I think you better ask TK," the little thing told him.

"We would, but he's not here and you are. Now, start at the beginning, Tokomon, and tell me exactly what happened. Lucy told me that the group got all split up, what happened after she left?" Tai asked of him.

"It was a few days after you left, Lucy, that Sora did, too," Tokomon told them, "She said she was going to look for Tai on her own. I could see that it was eating Matt up, so could Gabumon I think, but he was trying to be strong for TK. It was just the four of us and someone had to be the responsible one. He took it all on himself," he sighed, that wasn't even the bad news, "We found this place about a week ago. TK wanted to go back and find the others again, but Matt didn't think it was a good idea. When TK started crying, Matt told him that you two," he looked at Tai and Agumon, "were alright, and you'd bring presents when you came back. I knew he was just kidding about the presents, but that didn't matter, 'cause just a little while later we found an amusement park.

"It had rides and games and food stands. It was great," the digimon sighed, "But Matt didn't seem too excited. It was like there was something on his mind that he couldn't stop thinking about. The park, aside from us, was completely empty. No lines, no wait. Matt still didn't really care though. Not 'til we got to the Swan pedal boats. He decided to take one out on the lake, check what was on the other side. Gabumon told me that I was responsible for TK. Then they got in the boat and left. Matt said he would be back in a couple hours, told TK to enjoy himself on the rides. But TK didn't. He just stayed on the dock, waiting for his brother. Hours went by, and still no Matt. We stayed at the park for almost a whole week. TK spent the whole time staring out at the water, except when he just couldn't stay awake anymore," Tokomon sighed deeply, "And then, things got worse."

+-9

A day ago, TK sat out on a dock observing a lake in an amusement park. He was waiting, as usual, for his brother. He was staring out into the lake, endlessly searching for his brother. Around five days ago, he'd left, saying he'd be right back. But he wasn't right back. It didn't only take a few hours.

"He's coming," TK said to himself, "I know it. Any minute now, I'll see his boat out there," he's said the same thing to himself, every morning since the older boy had left, but it was getting harder to fool himself into believing it. Tears began to gather in the corners of his eyes and soon began to fall.

Tokomon came up behind the eight year old, carrying a stick with berries on it for the kid to eat. He noticed the water leaking out of the boys eyes and his ears drooped sadly.

"Don't cry again," the little digimon tried to get his partner to calm down.

"He's gone!" TK sobbed, "I just know it! He's gone away like all the others!" He was squinting his eyes shut, trying to hold the tears in, but there were too many to keep inside of himself, "He said he'd be back in a couple of hours!" the boy turned away from the lake, collapsing to his knees then laying down on the dock, hiding his face in his arms, crying openly now.

"Now, don't give up hope," Tokomon advised him, trying to be strong for his partner.

But TK wouldn't hear it. He was just too deep in his despair. Everyone had left him alone. Everyone!

"Hey! What's all the squawkin' about?" A voice questioned. Tokomon and TK looked up, the boy stopping his outright crying to get a look at the newcomer. It was a digimon with a blue mask and wings, a skull print on the front. He had black fur underneath the mask, big yellow eyes, and bird like talons with red claws. "Demidevimon's the name. Mind if I drop in?"

"Demidevimon?" TK's partner questioned, "I've heard about you!"

"Oh, great," the flying digimon grinned, "I'm flattered."

"Don't be. Nothing I heard was good," Tokomon said simply.

"Okay, okay, I admit, I used to be a bit of a wise guy," the flying digimon said, pulling a little higher in the air before lowering again, "But that's because I used to work for Etemon. But now he's caput, thanks to you guys!" he grinned at them again, "Something for which I am eternally grateful! Personally, I never liked the guy."

"You seen my brother out there?" TK asked straight away, "He's in a boat." He didn't care if the little blue guy worked for Etemon or the mean old gym teacher Matt talked about, if he'd seen his brother he'd get a hug.

"Oh, is that what's got you down, squirt? Well, you've come to the right digimon," Demidevimon grinned wider at the little boy, "What's his name, your brother?"

"His name is Matt," TK said, hope beginning to fill his crystal blue eyes again.

"Got it! Let me see what I can do," the digimon turned in the air and flew out to the other side of the lake, "Back in a flash!"

"Wow," Tokomon said from next to his human partner, "Maybe he has changed." A smile made its way across his little face.

"You think?" TK asked, a small smile of his own dawning.

It was hard to think that one of Etemon's creepy henchmen was being helpful, but, just a few minutes later, the little, winged digimon came back, new of Matt with him.

"Sorry to keep you waitin'," Demidevimon said cheerfully as he flew back to the dock.

"How about it? Did you find my brother? Did you find him?" the little boy had a big smile on his face now. Someone had come back! Even if it was someone he'd only just met.

"Sure I did," the winged digimon assured him.

"Is he on his way back?" TK was beginning to look like he'd dive off the dock and learn how to swim, just so he could meet his brother half way if Demidevimon told him that he was coming.

"Well, that's the bad news, kid," the black furred digimon did a quick turn in the air.

"What?" you could almost here the eight year old's heart break.

"It kills me to have to be the one to break this to ya, but your bro ain't comin' back," he told the blonde boy, "And in fact, he never wants to see you again. Said he was tired of babysittin' a crybaby."

"No way," TK said, trying to convince himself that his brother would never be so cruel. It wasn't working. If his brother really did want to see him again, why hadn't he come back yet?

"That can't be true, TK!" Tokomon tried to assure him.

"He called me-"

"Crybaby," Demidevimon finished for him, "Yeah, that's what he said. He called you some other stuff, too, but I don't want to repeat it. Anyway! He's gone!"

TK managed to hold it all in for a matter of seconds before he broke out crying again, screaming out his sadness to the world.

"Aw, don't take it so hard," the flying digimon said. TK ignored the platitude, running away from the dock, still crying loudly. He knew it. He knew it! His brother hated him!

"I hate him too!" the boy cried as he wan into the forest, jut wanting to be left alone. He'd never look out on that lake again. Tokomon was right behind him, trying to keep up with the little boy.

Neither of them noticed Demidevimon up above them, a victorious grin on his face.

By the time Tokomon caught up to TK, the boy was angrily throwing rocks into the lake.

"C'mon," the little pig like digimon said to his partner, "Matt would never say things like that. Besides, we've been working on crying thing, and you're getting better. You really are!"

TK sighed, just throwing another rock into the lake before hugging his knees to his chest. He'd cried himself out a little while ago. He just stared off into the setting sun, watching the beautiful color changes that it went through in this weird world.

"Don't believe that guy," Tokomon tried again. TK just put his hands on his ears. He didn't want to hear it anymore. He knew what Demidevimon said was true. Why else would his brother stay away? He was too tough to be stopped by a bad digimon, he could come back any time he wanted.

His partner decided to try and find some food again. Food always made him feel better, maybe it would help with TK's problems. He made it to the other side of the tiny little peninsula, looking for oranges or more berries, when the winged digimon that had caused TK to cry landed right near him.

"Hey, flopsy!" he called, sounding less friendly to Tokomon than he did to the child.

The little guy whirled on the mask wearing digimon with a frown, "You got to stop lying to TK!" he ordered, but his cute little voice made it hard to sound strong.

"Lies? Whatever could you mean by that?" Demidevimon asked, though he was still grinning, the other digimon noticed.

"You take back all those lies, or you'll be sorry!" the little digimon frowned harder, but his counterpart wasn't impressed.

"My, my, my, those are pretty bold words comin' from a pink chubba with an overbite," the black furred creature lifted into the air, landing on a branch, "Besides, you have any proof that I'm lying about it? Huh?"

"Well, no," Tokomon bowed his head shamefully.

"There you go! You're just assuming the worst because of my background," the blue masked digimon told him, "That's not fair. It's prejudiced, that's what it is!" he leaned forward on the branch till he hung upside down, turning as he went so he would remain facing the other digimon, "Just because I'm not a cuddly butterball like you, you think I must be a bad guy! That's so, I don't know, superficial. Luckily, TK' more enlightened!"

Tokomon couldn't take it anymore. This guy was a bad digimon, he knew it. He knew it deep in his base code. He was trying to confuse him with his words about prejudiced, but he wouldn't be fooled. A vein on the side of his little head pulsed angrily and he opened his mouth, spitting out more of those pink bubbles that he used to attack Kuwagamon.

"Huh?" Demidevimon stared at the bubbles dumbly for a second, allowing them to hit him and knock him off his branch. TK came running out of the trees right at that moment a frown on his face, directed at his partner.

"Tokomon! What are you doing?" he said angrily.

"What, TK?" the pig digimon questioned back.

"I saw you take a shot at him," the boy told the little digimon. Demidevimon hovered behind the boy.

"Don't be too hard on him, TK," he told the boy, "I understand what the poor guy's feelin'," the human boy looked up at him, wondering what he meant, "It's only natural that he feels a little resentful that you've found yourself a new friend." TK turned another frown on Tokomon.

"Hmph!" the little pink digimon turned his head to one side, his eyes closed.

"I don't know, but I think an apology is in order," the boy told his partner digimon.

"Well, don't hold your breath," Tokomon denied. Demidevimon flew higher to get a better view of this break down.

"Do it!" TK commanded.

"I will not!" the pink digimon turned back to face TK and look him in the eye as he spoke, "If you like that flying rat so much, maybe I oughta leave!"

"If you wont apologize, you have to leave!"

"You really mean it?" the little pig thing asked, tears gathering in his eyes at that.

"Yeah," the boy nodded resolutely, "sure!" Tokomon stared for a moment, then began to walk away, "Go on!"

The little digimon stopped, turning to look back at him, "I'm not coming back, you know."

"You don't see me cryin' about it!" TK yelled, "And I don't need these stupid gadgets either!" He pulled his Digivice off his pack and his Tag and Crest from around his neck before throwing them to one side. Tokomon gasped as he saw this, unable to believe what the boy just did.

TK turned around then and began running back to the amusement park, "C'mon, Demidevimon, let's go ride the roller coaster!" The little winged digimon grinned triumphantly at Tokomon before he turned to follow the eight year old.

"That suits me fine! Goodbye!" Tokomon said, having the last word before he broke down crying right next to TK's Digivice and Crest. This day had gone so horribly wrong, and nothing he did seemed to help. He'd messed up so badly, and now TK would probably never talk to him again.

+-9

"You see, Tai," Agumon said, "We go away for a couple of days, and everything falls apart."

Lucy pulled Tokomon into a hug, as he looked like he was about to cry again, "I'm sure he didn't mean it, Tokomon. I bet he's worried about you, right now."

"Hmm," Tai hummed to himself, holding the little boy's Digivice and Crest, "First, we'll find out what TK is up to, then we'll look for Matt and the others," he looked at the little creature in Lucy's arms then, "Take us to him, Tokomon."

"You got it!" the little guy nodded and hopped out of the pink haired girl's hold.

It didn't take long at all for the small procession to reach the amusement park. Lucy practically had stars in her eyes when she saw it. She loved amusement parks, they were great! The roller coasters, the prize games, the _bumper cars_! If only they didn't have a world to save. She sighed, oh well, the sacrifices one made to be a hero.

"That's the place?" Tai asked, wonder in his tone.

"Yeah," Tokomon said from Lucy's arms. He had gotten a little tired on the way, so she picked him up again while Skymomon rode on her back. Since they were no longer out in the desert, the extra weight of the monkey on her back was actually comforting rather than tiring. "He's somewhere in there with that flying phony!"

+-9

"Whoo wee! Ain't this a gas?" Demidevimon asked excitedly as he rode in the Ferris wheel with TK, "We're havin' some fun, now, huh?" he laughed exuberantly, looking out the window over the scope of the park. From there you could see the whole mess of attractions, even that the roller coaster went all the way around the park.

The boy was looking out the window, too, but he wasn't anywhere near as excited. The look on his face said it all. He regretted what he'd said to Tokomon. Regretted it all. Sure, he wanted the little guy to apologize, but he didn't really want him to leave. He was his friend.

"Hey, TK, I bet I could spit farther than you!" the winged digimon challenged.

The boy just sighed, looking down at the floor, "Tokomon's awful small to be out on his own. I hope he's okay." He missed the angry frown that crossed the flying creatures face.

"Forget about him, will ya?" he grinned again, "C'mon, let's try the highway!"

"Alright," the boy nodded, not sounding enthused.

As soon as the Ferris wheel stopped, the boy and digimon got out and moved over to another ride. This one allowed you to drive a cart around the track really fast. TK hopped into one of them, Demidevimon perched on the back of the seat, and they zoomed around the track. The look on the boy's face hadn't changed, though. It was like he wasn't even really there.

"Alright, TK, really rev this baby up!" the digimon exclaimed happily, "Put the petal to the metal and feel the freedom of the open road!" the boy listened to his advice, going faster and taking a sharp turn rather well. The winged digimon wasn't ready for it though and lost his balance, falling off the back of the cart. "Whoa! This is so much fun it oughta be illegal!"

Next, he dragged the eight year old to the roller coaster. It was made to look like a train and occasionally tooted it's horn as it chugged along the ups and downs of the track.

"Okay," Demidevimon said from right next to TK in the seat, "You gotta scream at the top of your lungs!" he explained the idea as the train coat reached the very top of the slope at the start of the ride, "Ready? Waaaaaah!"

TK couldn't have looked less interested if he was asleep. He was just looking out the window, desperately hoping to see Tokomon making his way back into the park.

The digimon next to him trailed off in his scream and glared at the kid since he would notice at the moment, '_This kid's getting to be a real drag._'

"You're not still thinking about Tokomon, are ya?" he asked, "He made the decision to walk out on _you_! Not much of a friend, if you ask me."

"I know," TK sighed, "But I can't help wondering if he's okay."

'_This is gonna be harder than I thought,_' Demidevimon grumbled in his thoughts, "Hey, I just remembered, there's something I've gotta take care of. I'll be right back."

"You're leaving me, too?" the boy quailed.

"Just for a minute!" the blue masked digimon told him, "Trust me, you just stay and have fun." He flew out of the roller coaster and out towards the forest, an evil chuckle in his throat. It was as he was flying by the Ferris wheel that he completely missed Tai, Lucy, Agumon, Skymomon and Tokomon walking through the park towards TK's current location.

"Wait a minute, my digivice is going off," Lucy said, pulling it off her belt. It was glowing and beeping.

"Mine is, too," Tai said, "I wonder what it means."

"It's probably trouble," Agumon said, "That's what it usually means."

"No problem," Skymomon said from Lucy's back, "We're bringing the group back together, and anything that one of us can't handle, the rest of us will jump in to help!"

"Right," the wild haired boy said with a grin, "so whatever's happening will just have to wait, right now, we have to find TK!" He turned around and started running again, the others following him.

"There he is!" Lucy pointed out. There, in the food court area, laying his head against a table, almost looking asleep, was TK. He was resting his head against one arm, his eyes closed. He looked so small and fragile, sitting there like that, without Tokomon at his side.

"TK!" Tai called as they ran up. The boy mumbled for a moment.

"Yoohoo!" Agumon yelled behind his partner. TK opened his eyes, hoping he wasn't dreaming as he heard those familiar voices and then one more.

"Over here, TK!" Lucy called.

"It's my friends!" the eight year old cried, getting down out of his seat.

"Hey, little guy," Tai called with a bright grin.

"You came back!" He ran forward to hug them, starting with Tai. He'd been gone longer, after all.

"Yeah and are we glad to see you!" he hugged the guy to himself with a laugh, the little guy shedding tears of joy.

"I'm so happy!" He held on tight, "Aw, Tai, I was worried. You were gone so long, we thought somethin' bad musta happened." He pulled away, finally, looking up at the older boy.

"Well, I'm back and I'm all in one piece," the wild haired leader grinned.

"Lucy," TK said, turning to her, "You're here! Did Tai find you, too?"

"Actually, we kind of found each other," the girl said with a grin. "We waited at the Pyramid since we left the group, but we kinda took an extended nap. When Skymomon and I woke up, there he was, steppin' out of a sand storm."

The little pink pig thing in Lucy's hands jumped down then, standing before TK.

"Tokomon! You came back, too!" the boy couldn't hide the happiness at that. He had been so worried about his little friend earlier, and now he knew that he was okay.

"Mm-hm!" the little digimon said, but he wasn't rushing forward to meet TK with a hug yet. There was still some bad air between them.

"So, you finally admit you were wrong, and you're gonna apologize to him now?" the green wearing boy asked.

"I wasn't wrong and I wont apologize!" the little digimon said with conviction, a frown on his adorable face.

"Tokomon, what's happened to you? When'd you get to be such a brat?" TK demanded.

"TK!" Lucy gasped.

"Okay, you two, chill out," Tai said, stepping between them, "Knock off this bickering, right now, because we've got too many other problems to worry about! We've gotta go try and find Matt and all the others!" the pink haired girl nodded her agreement.

"Not me," the little boy said, turning away from the goggle wearing leader of the group.

"Hmm?" Tai hummed, putting his fists on his hips.

"Why should I? They're not nice! They left me behind!" he complained, glaring at the distance, "First Izzy, then the rest, then even my own brother, Matt!"

Lucy cast her gaze downwards. She hadn't meant to hurt him like that. She jut needed to go back and wait for Tai. She had to be sure he was okay. The others wanted to move on, but she simply couldn't anymore.

"Hey, c'mon, TK," Tai said, "It's not your fault they left."

"They hate me!" the little boy whirled around to face the twelve year old, tears in his eyes again, "They think I'm a crybaby! Even Matt said I was!" He began to hiccup with his sobs.

"I don't hate you, TK," Lucy said, placing a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, man," the wild haired boy said, "I don't know what this new friend of yours has been telling you, but I happen to know for a fact that Matt does not hate you."

"Well, you wouldn't be saying such nice things about him if you knew that I wanted to keep searching for you, but he didn't," the smaller boy exclaimed, "It's true! He's jealous of you, Tai. Didn't you ever notice that he gets all upset when you and me do stuff together, and he hates it when I talk about you."

"Huh?" Tai stood up to his full height, having leaned down to look the little boy in the eye.

"Can I be your little brother instead!?" He jumped forward at the boy, hugging him around the waist.

"What?" the older boy questioned, blinking dumbly.

"Please!" the little boy sobbed.

"I don't think it works that way," Tai said nervously.

"Why not?" TK asked, not letting go.

"It just doesn't," was all he could say, "That's all."

"You don't like me, either," the boy began to cry.

Lucy stepped forward then and crouched down by the little boy, "TK," she said softly, "TK, please look at me."

The little boy turned one tear dampened eye on the pink haired girl, "I swear, TK, I promise with everything I have, I don't hate you," she told him, "Please believe me. I know I left, but it wasn't because of you. Can you tell me that you believe that? Can you tell me that you know I don't hate you?"

"Yeah," he hiccuped, "I know. You don't hate me, I can see it, but-"

"But if it's true that I don't hate you, couldn't that mean the others don't, either?" the stopped him.

"I guess," he shrugged, the tears beginning to slow down, "Maybe."

"No 'maybe's about it. I know for certain that they don't hate you. And I bet I know why Matt stopped looking for Tai, too," she told him.

"Why? Why would he stop looking for our friend?" he asked, gaining more energy.

"Because he trusted him," she smiled.

"Huh?" Tai intoned that this time. Matt, trust him? Maybe as far as he could throw him.

"Yep!" the girl chirped, "He trusted Tai, not just to come back on his own, but to find everybody. He trusted Tai to bring us back together while he focused on what most important of all to him."

"What's that?" TK asked.

"Think about it," she smiled, "When Seadramon attacked, our first night in Digiworld, Matt swam through the lake as fast as he could, then distracted the bad digimon for somebody on that island. Who do you think that was?"

The little boy thought back on that very night. He remembered how hard and fast Matt swam. Remembered how the older blonde had pulled away the monster's attention so that he didn't hurt the kids on the island. So that he didn't hurt TK.

"Me," he mumbled, "He did it for me."

"You bet he did!" Tai said with an encouraging grin.

"I'll bet you my lucky silver dollar, the only reason Matt hasn't come back, is so that the bad digimon don't follow him back to you," she looked him directly in the eye as she said this, "Doesn't that make sense?"

TK wiped his eyes, giving a small smile, "Yeah. It does. I understand, now," he looked between the girl and the boy before him, "But why would he call me a crybaby then, and a bunch of other stuff?"

"We'll just have to ask him when we find him and the others," Tai said, "And if he really did call you those things, you can make him apologize for it."

Around then, the little blue and black ball with wings that was a digimon came back, holding a basket of mushrooms in his talons.

"Hey look!" TK said, turning to the side, "It's Demidevimon!"

"That's him?" the older boy asked, disbelieving, "Not the most trustworthy looking guy."

"Ditto," Lucy said, narrowing her eyes at the digimon. When his yellow eyes met hers she swore she saw shock flash across his perpetually grinning face.

"Welcome back, Tokomon," the little digimon said as he landed before the three kids and their digimon. He sounded nice enough, despite his appearance, "How ya been?"

Tokomon just glared at him, not giving him and inch of trust.

"Okay, what did Matt really say to you?" Agumon demanded.

"Yeah, tell the truth!" Skymomon said, hovering up over the dinosaur.

"Cool it, people!" the little flying ball said, backing away from the two digimon and their partners, "Just who are you guys, anyway?"

"We're friends of TK's," Tai told him, Lucy nodding strongly with her arms crossed, "_Real_ friends!"

"Start talking!" his partner added, "And it better be the truth this time!"

"It happened just like I told TK," Demidevimon insisted, "Matt said he was tired of the little guy and didn't want to hang with him anymore," he lifted into the air as well, not liking hi chances on the ground if this broke out into a fight, "I told Matt that brothers really oughta stick together, but he wouldn't listen to me. It's the truth, cross my heart!"

"If you've got one," Agumon quipped back.

"Hey! Why would I lie?" the flying digimon queried.

"Why wouldn't you lie?" Lucy said, her arms still crossed, "We don't know anything about you. You might just like to lie to people."

"Yeah!" Tai said, holding his fists before him, "And if you really do know where Matt is, you wont mind taking us to him."

"Sure, no problem," the little thing grinned, "But I gotta warn ya, he's far away."

"Then let's get going, now," Lucy said, putting her hands on her hips, "The sooner we go, the sooner we'll find him, right?"

"Fine, let's go," he descended in the air a little bit, "But it's been a long day, don't you want to eat first?"

"I am pretty hungry," Tai and Agumon said at once, holding their stomachs.

"I could do with a little food, myself," Skymomon told Lucy.

"Fine, but the moment we're done eating, you lead us to Matt, got it?" Lucy pointed accusingly up at the bat like digimon.

"Hey, that's what I said, right? I'm a 'mon of my word," Demidevimon said.

"So what have you got to eat?" TK asked, looking at the basket of mushrooms. Tokomon sniffed them, trying to find out if they were poisonous or something.

"I picked these myself," the black furred creatures said, landing next to the basket, "Their fresh and juicy."

"Ah!" Agumon reached forward for one.

"Hold on," Tai said, stopping him, "Let's do this right."

A few minutes later, the kids and digimon had a little grill set up, cooking the mushrooms. They had several of them at once, all impaled on skewers.

"Mushrooms, de la barbecue!" Tai said in a bad french accent, "Zey'll be ready in just a minute!"

Lucy shook her head, smiling to herself at the boy's bad acting while he fanned the coals of the grill.

Agumon stiffened for a moment, then turned to run away, "Oops, gotta use the little digimon's room!"

"Don't forget to wash your hands, or claws, or whatever they are," Tai called out after him. He turned back to watching the mushrooms cook, turning them over, preparing them to be eaten.

"I wonder what kind of spice you use on mushrooms," Skymomon wondered.

"It doesn't really matter what kind, I think, just that they fill you up, right?" Demidevimon tried to reason.

"I guess so, but I like blue berries better than red berries, you know. I wonder if I'd like mushrooms better with spice or without," she rubbed her furry chin in thought.

"We're about to find out," Tai told her, "They'll be done in another minute or so."

A little while later, while Demidevimon was flying around in the air about, Tai pulled the first mushroom off the grill.

"Okay," he said, "TK, you're first. Tell me if it's too hot."

The little digimon's grin grew wider and wider, waiting for them to eat the mushrooms.

"Want one?" the little boy asked Tokomon.

"I wouldn't touch it," the little pig thing said, turning his nose up at the food.

TK just turned around and opened his mouth wide to stick the whole thing in.

"Hang on!" Tai said quickly, snatching it back from the boy before he could eat it, "This one didn't get cooked on one side."

Demidevimon face planted from the air.

"Hey, you alright?" Lucy asked.

"Just fine," he grit his teeth.

"Yay, finally!" TK grinned when Tai handed him a fully cooked mushroom. He put it in his mouth then yelped with pain, pulling it right back out.

"It' probably still a little hot, huh?" Tai said with a kind grin, "Just blow on it." He did so for the little boy, making it cool down faster, "There, now give it a try."

"Smells yummy!" the eight year old prepared to take a bite.

"No!" Agumon cried as he came running back, "Don't eat it!" He was waving his arms about wildly as he ran back to them, "Put it down! Stop it! Don't eat that!" When he got there he pulled the mushrooms out of Tai and TK's hands, "They're poison, evil, bad stuff!"

"Hey!" Tai exclaimed when his mushroom was taken. Lucy, on Agumon's urging, took Skymomon's away, much to the little monkey's chagrin.

"You don't see him eating them!" the dinosaur held one up to the bat digimon, "Here, try one! Come on, open up!" He tossed one at the bat digimon. It hit him right in the face, but he didn't try to bite it. "He wont eat one! He was trying to slip us some kind of mushroom that makes you forget things!"

"Is that true?" TK demanded of the flying digimon, "Were you trying to poison us?"

"Don't be silly!" The little thing panicked.

"You're lying, just like you lied about Matt!" Tokomon bared his shark like teeth at the bat, causing him to fly higher in the air.

"It was a lie, wasn't it!?" Agumon said, grabbing the little digimon by his feet before he could fly too high.

"You lying brat!" TK yelled at him, tears coming out of his eyes yet again as he came over to Tokomon, "Tokomon, can you ever forgive me?" he bowed his head.

"If you promise we'll always be friends," the little pig asked.

"Of course!" the blonde immediately agreed.

Lucy grinned as she watched Tokomon and TK reconnect. It was good to see them being friends again.

"Good work!" Tai said, reaching into his pocket to pull out the little boy's Digivice and Crest, "I guess that's one problem taken care of! Here, TK, I thought you might want these back," He placed the device in his back and slipped the pendant over his head.

"You bet!" the Crest started glowing almost the second it was around TK's neck.

"Check it out!" Tai exclaimed, "TK's crest is glowing!"

"I wonder why," Lucy said, looking at it.

"That's not good!" Demidevimon said to himself, still struggling to get away from Agumon. Finally he turned around and bit the dinosaur digimon on the claw before swooping towards the little boy, "Who gave you the idea that Crest was yours? Hand it over, ya little squirt!" Before he could get close enough to rip it off the boys neck, Tokomon bared his teeth again and jumped forward, nearly biting the somewhat bigger digimon on the face.

"I'm gonna teach this 'mon a lesson!" He declared, jumping out of TK's arms. The Digivice in the boy's hand started beeping and lighting up, supporting his decision. In a flash of familiar light and high pitched keening, Tokomon finally became the wing eared Patamon again.

"Way to go, Patamon!" Tai cheered, "Take him down!"

Unfortunately, Demidevimon was ready for the tan digimon's aerial tackle, knocking him aside with one talon and sending him flying into the Teacup ride.

"_Whirlwind Fist!_" Skymomon called, launching the green whirlwind at the flying jerk, followed closely by Agumon's attack.

"_Pepper Breath!_" The fireball was slightly faster than the whirlwind, and the effect was that they both hit at the same time, nearly knocking the bat digimon out of the sky. Instead he cried in pain, before diving towards the tea cup Patamon fell into.

"Come here!" He growled, slamming one wing into the tan digimon, sending him flying away again.

Patamon tried fighting back, countering, but nothing worked, the bat digimon was faster than him.

"Do something, somebody, please!" TK begged as they watched Demidevimon knock his partner onto one of the Ferris wheel baskets.

Finally the little digimon began to fight back on his own, he stood up on his hind legs while the other digimon gloated.

"This is just too easy! You should give up! You'd make good money as a punching bag, you know that?" Demidevimon taunted.

"Oh yeah," the tan digimon said, "_Boom Bubble!_" The condensed ball of air streaked through the air and slammed into Demidevimon. It sent the winged jerk flying till he landed on the roller coaster track. Before he could roll down the slope of it, Patamon moved to the base and fired off another Boom Bubble. When the bad digimon began rolling back up the way he came, the tan digimon sent one more blast of condensed air at him, sending him flying off into the distance, far away from TK and the others.

"Alright, Patamon!" TK yelled, cheering at his partner, "You're a super hero!" He ran forward to meet the little guy when he got to the ground, "Now I feel even worse for the way I treated you."

"We promised we'd always be friends," Patamon told the boy, "And the first rule of friendship is Forgive and Forget. Let's forget it ever happened, okay?"

"Kay!" The boy grinned, bringing his partner into a hug. The two of them were then pulled into a hug as the other four ran over.

"You were great, Patamon!" Skymomon exclaimed, "You sure taught that guy a lesson!"

"Yeah," Agumon nodded, "Who knew you had it in you?"

"Now that he's gone, we can go find the rest of the crew," Tai said, holding a fist before him, "If it all goes like this, it'll be a piece of cake!"

"Totally," Lucy said with her own grin, "Away we go!" She pointed dramatically off into the lake waters.

Chapter Twenty: End.

Please Enjoy.


	21. Chapter 21 WereGarurumon's Diner

Chapter Twenty One: WereGarurumon's Diner

When it came time to leave the park, it was a bit of a juggling act, trying to fit everyone into a swan boat. Luckily, there were two of them. In the end, the digimon that could fly, did. Tai took TK in one boat, Lucy took Agumon in the other. Tai reasoned that he and Agumon were the physically strongest of the group, so they should split up to help both TK and Lucy. Lucy wasn't gonna argue with that. She knew how strong Tai's legs were, or at least had a rough estimate.

Once they started out on the lake, both boats being orbited by one of the flying digimon, the go was relatively quick. At least, they felt that way until they found out that the lake was a _lot_ bigger than they had originally surmised. What was a lake seemed to turn into an ocean.

"Looks like we may be out here for a while," Lucy said, looking out the side of the boat, still pedaling at a constant pace.

"We could sing a song, if you want," Agumon suggested.

Lucy turned her head slowly to face the yellow digimon. If the seemingly impossible sound of a creaky door coming from her neck wasn't enough, the look of murder in her eyes completely set the digimon on edge.

"No. Songs," the words weren't said in a growl, or in any uber threatening way, but the yellow digimon gulped in fear, nodding his head rapidly. Boy, could human girls be scary, or what?

"W-whatever you say, Lucy," Agumon said, beginning to sweat in his fear.

After a second she turned away from him and the killer aura faded. She stared out at the waters before them for a few moments. Then she turned to face the yellow digimon again.

She didn't expect him to yelp and nearly fall out of the boat, his claws held protectively around the head, "I'm sorry!"

"Huh? What are you-?" Lucy sighed to herself as she looked at him, grabbing one of his paws gently, "No, no, there's nothing for you to be sorry about, Agumon."

"There isn't?" he asked, calming down slightly, "Then why did you-?"

"When I was in that dark place," she interrupted him, already knowing the question, "the guy in the robes was a total goof. At one point he even started talking about how being taller made him automatically right," she shook her head with a chuckle, "Some time after we started walking towards my light, he started singing. He sang for _hours_. He didn't stop until... until that monster attacked," she sighed now, looking towards the floor of their swan boat.

Agumon was sitting normally in his seat now, looking at the girl he was traveling with, "Sorry, Lucy."

"No, like I said, I'm the one who should apologize for snapping at you like that. You didn't know about that guy singing like he did," she told him.

"I'm not sorry for that," the digimon said to her, "I'm sorry for reminding you about him fighting the monster. It must have been scary."

"You have no idea," the girl shuddered, "but you should have seen that guy go," she grinned now, "He may have been more annoying than a fly in your ear, but he could fight!" she punched out in front of herself a couple of times, showing the same rudimentary boxing skills of any child, "It was really cool!"

"Sounds like a person I'd like to have in my corner the next time we've gotta fight someone like Devimon," Agumon told her with a grin.

"Yeah, 'til he opens his mouth. Then you'll contemplate joining the bad guy, jut so you can hit the guy," Lucy grinned. Agumon laughed a little bit.

"Hey, you two!" Tai called from his swan boat, "I see land ahead! Read to get off these things?"

"You bet!" Lucy called back, "My legs are getting tired! Agumon's good company, though, right, Skymomon?"

"Yep!" the girl's partner chirped.

"Don't I know it," Tai said with a grin, "Agumon's one of the coolest guys I know!"

"Aw, Tai, Lucy," Agumon said with a blue on his scales, "Cut it out. You're embarrassing me."

"You deserve it, big guy," the pink haired girl told him, patting him on the back.

The kids got to the beach soon enough, parking their swan boats half on the shore in case they needed them again. As they did, they noticed a third boat.

"Hey! That's the boat Matt took!" TK exclaimed, running over to it. All of them knew that Matt wouldn't be inside it, but it was better to check and be wrong than to leave it and be right. "Aw," TK sighed.

"Hey, don't worry, TK, all this means is that we've come to the right place. I'm sure we'll find him soon," Tai said, placing his hand on the little boy's shoulder.

He just nodded, before a beeping grabbed hi attention, "What's that sound?"

"It's my Digivice," Tai aid, "It's started up again."

"Then our friends are nearby!" Agumon said, "It did the same thing when we found TK."

"Maybe we'll find my brother!" the boy in question hoped.

"And maybe some food, too!" the wild haired boy added.

"I could use a little something to chew on," Lucy admitted, blushing brightly when her stomach growled.

"Wow, Lucy," Skymomon grinned, "what a monster!" Another loud growling filled the air.

"Look who's talking, Sky," the girl said with a grin of her own now.

"Okay, so I'm hungry," the monkey admitted, a sheepish grin on her adorable face, her tail whipping back and forth, almost like a dog's.

"Let's get going then!" Tai said, stepping up the path leading up the cliff face they'd landed near, "Matt first, then food, then the others!"

"Yeah!" TK nodded his agreement, Patamon, who was flying right beside him, nodded as well.

The trek up the cliff face was surprisingly quick. It looked a lot bigger than it actually was from the base. What they found up there had Lucy frowning.

"Okay, I know it's gonna be tempting," she said, stopping the boys and digimon from going into the restaurant right away, "but don't touch any of the food you find in that restaurant." She pointed to the building, as if accusing it of something. It was a light blue, had beautifully crafted windows, and the smell of the food coming from it was absolutely delectable.

"Why not?" Tai asked, "We're all hungry, aren't we, what's wrong with eating a little something here?"

"Need I remind you about the last few Too Good To Be True places we stayed at? The hotel? The luxury liner?" she crossed her arms, "Ringin' any bells?"

Tai frowned himself as he remembered those instances, "She's right. Don't touch anything," the others groaned in disappointment, "At least, not until we're absolutely sure it's safe." That got a couple cheers.

"I can completely agree with that," Lucy said with a grin.

With that, the three kids and their digimon opened the doors to the restaurant to find it shockingly occupied. And if the fact that there was someone there wasn't enough to make them think something might be different this time, the sight of Gabumon and Gomamon washing the floors and carrying food platters certainly was.

"Gomamon!" Tai exclaimed.

"Gabumon!" TK was right next to him.

"TK!" the fur covered digimon gasped.

"Lucy and Tai!" the seal looked more than happy to see everyone.

"If you're here, then my brother must be here, too!" the little boy smiled happily as he ran up to his brother's partner.

"Joe's here, too, right, pal?" Tai asked Gomamon with a grin.

The good cheer from the unexpected reunion left the two digimon they'd just found. Gabumon's shoulders slumped visibly and Gomamon looked away from Tai.

"Yeah, he's here, but..." the seal trailed off.

"What's wrong?" the wild haired boy asked.

"Joe can tell you about it," Gomamon sighed.

"Where is he?" Lucy asked.

"The kitchen," Gabumon said softly.

The kids found their way into the kitchen without a problem. Not very hard to find after all. And wouldn't you know it. There was their friend, blue hair and all, washing the dishes.

"Joe?" the girl asked, as she stepped into the kitchen with the others.

"Lucy?" the boy questioned the air in front of him, then turned to find a small group of his friends waiting for him, "Lucy, TK, Tai! I'm so glad to see you guys!" he grinned wide, "But please don't break anything."

"Sure," Tai said with a single eyebrow raised, "but what are you doing here?"

"Hey, Joe, it's great to see ya, but where' Matt?" TK asked with an excited smile.

"Oh, uh," the blue haired boy's face fell, thinking about the things Matt had said recently, "Matt's around back."

The younger blonde didn't seem to notice Joe's mood fall, just running out the back door to the kitchen with Patamon right behind him, "Matt!"

"I'll go with him," Lucy said, leaving the older boys alone to talk.

"So," Tai started, looking at the other boy's sad face, "what are you doing here?"

Joe just sighed for a moment, thinking about it all. It was such a messed up set of circumstances.

+-9

Matt was laying on the ground, thinking about what that bat digimon had said to him. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be true. Joe was... Joe was keeping him here. He kept breaking things and dropping dishes and doing anything he could to make their debt go higher and higher so he couldn't go back to his little brother.

He heaved a great sigh as he stared up at the odd sky in this world. He was really beginning to miss the natural blue sky of home.

"Hiya, Matt!" the smiling face of his little brother was the last thing he expected to see.

"Whoa! TK!" he exclaimed, bolting into a sitting position.

"I thought I'd never see you again," the little boy laughed, hugging his brother tightly for a moment.

"I'm great, now that we're together again! And look who I brought with!" He turned to look over his shoulder. There was Lucy smiling with her hands behind her head, and just behind her was Tai, standing in the door way.

"Hey, sailor," the girl said, "How's it been?"

"Yeah, long time, no see, Matt," Tai said to the boy.

"Hey, Tai, Lucy," the older blonde couldn't seem to decide if the two of them were real or he'd gone completely made from having to work in that stupid restaurant.

"So, seems like something weird is going on around here," the brown haired boy said, his fists on his hips.

"Yeah, you could say we got ourselves into some hot water," Matt punned.

"Oh, cooking jokes!" Tai grinned.

The older blonde turned to TK then, "I'm really sorry I didn't come back and keep my promise to get you, TK."

"That's alright," the little boy said, still smiling, just happy to have his big brother back, "I'm sure you would have if you could have, Matt!"

"Anyhow," the older brother said, a small smile gracing his face too, "You're here now, and that's all that counts."

"You mean, I don't matter?" Lucy turned to Matt, her eyes large and watery, her bottom lip jutting out and quivering.

"What? No! I mean, yes! I mean, you do count, I just," he stopped floundering when he noticed the girl in question and her monkey giggling, "Oh, ha ha, very funny." he crossed his arms.

"I thought so," the girl said, placing her arms behind her head again. Matt couldn't maintain his frown, a smile breaking out again.

Tai was grinning too. Just three more kids and the whole group would be back together. The whole team would be able to stop the bad guys, save the world and go home. It'd be just that easy. At least, he thought so.

"What counts is that we get out of this weirdo place, and quick," Tai said, sobering up. He didn't notice Joe stepping up behind him.

"What?" Gabumon gasped, "Run away?"

"Of course, runaway!" The wild haired boy said, "I don't see any guards around here." he gestured around in the open space out the back of the restaurant.

Matt frowned at Joe, not that Tai noticed.

"I don't want to," the older blonde said forcefully, turning his gaze away from the rest of the group.

"Huh?" the wild haired boy blinked.

"But why not?" TK pleaded.

"I'll leave when I'm ready," he said by way of explanation, "Anyway, I am not going anywhere with Joe."

"Huh?" the oldest boy intoned, startled by that declaration.

"Joe doesn't want to work together, he only cares about himself!" Matt continued.

Lucy looked to the oldest boy in the group and could see the pain on his face. Something was going on here, but what?

"How dare you say that, Matt!" Tai immediately jumped to his defense, "We're all friends here!"

The other boy got to his feet then, a frown marring his face, "Right, what friends!?" he clenched his fists together at his sides, "Oh? You mean this guy, who deliberately wrecks everything to keep me here cooking rice 'til I'm an old geezer!?"

"Hey!" the wild haired boy shouted, "Back off!"

"And what about you, big shot!?" he started in on the other boy his age, "The one that got us all separated!"

"Matt!" TK cried, holding onto his brother's arm, "Stop yelling! Aren't you glad-"

"Be quiet, TK!" the older boy barked.

_Smack!_

"Wha?" Matt reached up and held his cheek, the stinging not really painful as much as it was shocking. He looked back in the direction of Tai, Joe, and Lucy to see the girl pulling one pink glove back on, a dark look on her face.

"Now, listen up," she said with an undercurrent of steel in her voice, "I don't know what's going on here, but you're going to calm down. All of us are. We're together again, and I don't care what your problem is, we are _not_ splitting up again because you've got issues with your brain to mouth filter."

"Yeah!" Tai said, holding up a fist.

"Tai," she said in monotone.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Shut up."

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Now," she directed a look into the blue eyes of the guy that was head and shoulders taller than she was, "Get your act together, Matt. We came here to find you and all the rest of our friends and we are leaving, right now, if we have to tie you up and cart you along like a sack of potatoes, got it?"

"I'm-"

"Got it?" she said, more forcefully.

"Got it," the older boy nodded.

"Good, let's go, now," she turned back to the others, "You ready to split, Joe."

He gulped, hoping he hadn't done something that would get the girl's ire, "Uh, yeah, I just need to, um, get my bag."

"Thinking of running away, are you?" a sinister voice came from the stairs at the side of the restaurant that led up to the second level. The group turned to look, finding a little egg thing. It had an opening in the front of it's thick white shell that only showed two glowing, yellow eyes and openings on the bottom for two green legs. "That would make me very angry!" the eyes inside the darkness of the shell narrowed as he laughed cruelly.

"Yes, that would be a very bad idea," another, more familiar voice, said from a tree behind them. Tai, Lucy and TK turned again, finding the familiar form of Demidevimon.

"Hey, isn't that-?" Joe began.

"Him again!" TK exclaimed next.

"Demidevimon!" Patamon named him for those that didn't know it.

"What's that liar doing here?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"Liar?" Matt asked, realization dawning on his face, he turned a glare on the evil bat digimon, "You lied!"

"You lied to me to get me to come here," Joe realized as well, a frown beginning to cross his face and clenching his fist before him, "And you're the one who's been wrecking everything!"

"So, we're gonna teach you a lesson!" Tai exclaimed.

"_Pepper Breath!_"

"_Boom Bubble!_"

"_Whirlwind Fist!_"

The three attacks streaked towards the little bat digimon through the air rather quickly. Unfortunately for them, the little creep was able to dodge the attacks, one after another.

"Hey, watch it! That's hot!" He winged away into the forest.

"Oh, no you don't!" Lucy shouted, running after the little creep.

"After him, guys!" Tai shouted as well, over taking Lucy. The two kids were followed by Agumon, Skymomon and Patamon.

Before Joe, or the others could try to follow as well, the egg thing, his boss Digitamamon, stepped up again.

"How dishonest, trying to leave without paying me!" he growled at the blonde boy.

Matt whirled on the egg, holding his fists clenched before him, "You're a thief! We've worked here long enough to pay for a trip to Hawaii!"

"Hawaii's not on the schedule!" the bad digimon growled, fire visibly surrounding him, "But if you insist, I'll send you to the moon!" He grew until he was nearly as tall as the human boy beforethe front of his egg closed and he dived at the blonde.

Matt dodged, but only just. The monster turned around to face him.

"You want to leave? You'll have to beat me first!"

The older blonde grit his teeth angrily. This day was just not getting any better. Luckily, Gabumon was still there with him. His digivice went off and the digimon grew.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

With the wolf digimon on the field, it looked like things were a little more even, now. He jumped forward, breathing blue flames at the egg digimon, "_Howling Blaster!_" But it had no effect at all. Digitamamon was still perfectly fine.

"His shell!" Gomamon said, having an epiphany, "His shell is closed, so the blast has no effect!"

The front of the shell opened briefly, and the yellow eyes could be seen again, "Very perceptive of you," the monster said before closing the shell again and launching froward at the wolf digimon.

Size was not an indication of power. Garurumon was still more than twice the size of the egg digimon. And when the smaller digimon tackled him, it was like being hit by a runaway truck. It knocked him through the air and when he landed he skidded a few feet.

"Garurumon!" Matt cried, running over to his digimon.

"Matt!" TK cried fearfully. The boy turned to check on his brother only to find him in the grasp of another evil digimon. It looked like a yellow eggplant with red markings on it's head, a beak full of sharp teeth and a head dress. It had three yellow vines coming out of it, one one it's right and left side each, like arms, and a much shorter one in the back as a tail. He was using one vine to hold onto the roof so he wasn't anywhere near the ground, and the other was wrapped around the smallest boy's ankle, holding him upside down over the ground.

"Call off your beast," Veggiemon ordered.

"Matt!" TK cried, "Help me!"

"How nice," Digitamamon said, walking over towards the blonde boy, "Your little brother to _hang_ around!" He laughed at his own pun before launching at Garurumon again, knocking the wolf into a large rock face rather painfully.

"Matt! Somebody! Get me down!" the littlest boy shouted, flailing about.

"That's going too far!" Joe finally decided, "I've had it!"

"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" The huge sea beast pointed a horn at Veggiemon, smacking him with it.

"Hey!" the plant digimon growled, "Back off fur ball, or the kid gets it!" he threatened. He started waving TK about, making the little boy look a little sick and making him cry out even more.

"Stop that!" Matt ordered ineffectually.

What neither of them had noticed was Joe. The blue haired boy had managed to get up to the roof. He crawled over to where Veggiemon was hanging then leap off, landing on the plant with a belly flop. The plant digimon panicked and dropped TK, luckily in such a way that the little boy only landed on his back pack.

Unfortunately, this left the blue haired boy in a bind. Literally, Veggiemon quickly wrapped Joe up in his vines, squeezing him so tight you could hear hi bones creak.

"Joe!" TK exclaimed, looking at his friend, "He's caught!" Matt came over at that point, holding TK up by the shoulders, looking for injuries before he looked over at the blue haired boy.

"Joe!" he exclaimed.

"Matt," the boy forced out, obviously in pain, "You were right. You always said that we would all have to work together to get out of this mess. Now," he grimaced as the digimon holding him tightened his grasp, "it looks like my turn."

"Matt, we gotta help him!" The youngest boy cried while the older blonde stared in shock at the worry wart of the group.

"Go on, Ikkakumon, blast them, now," Joe told his digimon.

The large sea mammal lashed forward at Digitamamon with his horn, but the egg thing easily dodged it by jumping away, opening the path to the yellow plant digimon.

"Tell your friend I'm a very short tempered Veggiemon!" he yelled as he tightened the vines even more.

"Do it, Joe!" Matt said, trying to get the boy to get out of the death grip he was in.

"No," the older boy wheezed, "You've gotta attack while I keep him busy," he looked directly at the spiky haired blonde, "Attack! I'm fine! Nng!"

'_Aw, man! After I accused him and yelled at him,_' Matt thought, clenching his fists so tightly the leather creaked, "He still risked himself for TK," he mumbled, "Joe..." he breathed for a moment before looking up again, a frown growing across his face, this time for Joe instead of at him, "Noooo!" he yelled, his Crest of Friendship glowing brightly beneath his shirt.

Across the way, Ikkakumon and Garurumon were confronting Digitamamon together. They had him cornered, or so they thought, but the egg digimon didn't seem frightened.

"You two don't seem to get it," he grinned beneath his shell, "I'll destroy you both with one shot!" he narrowed his eyes again as he gathered the energy for an attack, "_Nightmare Syndrome!_" From the opening in his ultra durable shell, a black creature with yellow eyes, dark blue arms, and an open mouth with jagged teeth rushed at the two digimon. It hit them and exploded into a black whirlpool. It sucked the two digimon in, shrank to about a fifth of the size, then spat them back out, looking much worse for wear.

"Oh no," TK gasped, seeing this, "This is bad, they're too strong!"

Veggiemon was doing his best to turn the blue haired boy into Joe paste, Digitamamon was mopping the floor with Ikkakumon and Garurumon, and the others hadn't returned from chasing down Demidevimon yet. Everything was going wrong.

"We can't just give up!" Matt yelled, "We've gotta beat them!" He clenched his eyes shut, thinking to himself, '_But I can't beat them alone! I need Tai, TK, Sora, Lucy, Izzy, Mimi and Joe! Together we're strong!_' he opened his eyes after focusing on the faces of all his friends, "And we can beat anything! Garurumon!"

The wolf suddenly leapt to his feet, energy flooding him.

The Digivice on Matt's hip began the keening of Digivolution. Just like with Tai, when Garurumon began to Digivolve to the final level, the light from the Digivice was focused through the Crest. The symbol on the Crest of Friendship hit Garurumon on the chest and change began to overtake him.

"Garurumon, Digivolve to WereGarurumon!" Unlike Greymon, he didn't grow any bigger. Instead, he stood up on his hind legs, blue jeans formed on his lower body with a brown belt, his front paw and legs turned into arms and red clawed hands, and he had a should guard on his left shoulder that was fastened there from around his chest and back, hooked to his belt. On his left arm down to the fingers was a long bit of blue cloth and a set of spiked bras knuckles. The final difference was that his tail had disappeared.

"Comin' up, one scrambled egg!" Matt quipped, holding his Digivice in hand, the little thing vibrating violently with how much power was being forced through it.

"You and your little doggie don't frighten me," Digitamamon told the blonde boy before launching his attack again, "_Nightmare Syndrome!_" The attack left the front of his shell again, aiming right for the werewolf digimon.

WereGarurumon however wasn't in the mood to take the hit. His claws on each hand glowed blood red and he slammed them down on the blast with a furious growl. The darkness was stopped cold. It kept trying to push back on the werewolf, but it wasn't getting anywhere.

"Impossible!" Digitamamon exclaimed, unable to believe his beady yellow eyes.

"That's just the beginning, you little poacher!" Matt yelled confidently.

WereGarurumon held the blast of darkness back, with only the slightest amount of struggle. Finally, he had enough of just standing there and cried out the name of hi attack.

"_Wolf Claw!_" the glowing red of his claws increased for a moment before the darkness was sent careening back into the egg digimon that had fired it at him. It hit the fully evolved digimon with such force that he was sent flying off into the distance.

And the kids weren't the only one to see this. Veggiemon had followed Digitamamon's trajectory through the air.

"They beat Digitamamon!" he exclaimed, more than a little shocked.

Demidevimon had come back, just in time to see the evolution of WereGarurumon and the defeat of the egg monster. Fear was plainly on his face as he hovered there for a few seconds, "Aye, aye, aye, time for me to fly!" He took off, faster than ever for the distance.

"Well," Tai huffed as he came out of the forest, a little out of breath, "He's gone!"

"Get back here, you coward!" Lucy yelled after the bat digimon.

"Veggiemon, you better let go of him!" The blonde ordered the yellow plant that was still holding on to Joe.

Ikkakumon and WereGarurumon both stood before the much smaller creature, glaring at him.

He laughed nervously as the werewolf spoke, "Unless you want to be salad." Veggiemon gently lowered Joe to the ground, unwrapped his vines, and took off like a monkey from a box.

"Yay!" TK exclaimed, running over and hugging his brother, "Wow! That was so cool, Matt!" While the little boy spoke, the older boy looked over to Joe, "You're the awesomest big brother!" He knew for a fact that, if it weren't for the blue haired boy, TK might not be around to say those things to him.

Joe himself was just looking on what his good deed had wrought with a kind smile, no expectation of any reward on his face.

"I gotta hand it to ya, Joe, that was really brave!" Tai said, a smile on his face as he stepped up next to the taller boy.

"All I did was get grabbed," the oldest member of the group said, trying to brush away the praise.

"By a giant vegetable," Gomamon added after he reverted back to his smaller form.

"A cranky one," Tsunomon added. Joe smiled a little more, a red dusting on his face.

"Uh, Joe," Matt said, stepping forward tentatively, a small blush on his own face.

"Huh?" the blue haired boy turned to look at the blonde again.

"I'm really proud, how you handled the situation," he said, looking at the ground.

Joe just shrugged, "At my old school they voted me most likely to chicken out. I guess we showed them."

"I also need to apologize," the other boy said quickly.

"Oh? Why?" Joe asked. He knew why, and he wasn't trying to make Matt feel even more guilty, he just wanted him to see that he understood he'd only said what he did in anger. Joe really didn't take it to heart.

"Because," he sighed and looked up at the boy, "I never should have doubted you, Joe. You're probably the second most level headed person here, you never would have done those things I said."

Joe smiled at him for a few moments, then asked, "If I'm second, who's the first?"

Matt grinned a little and turned to look over at Lucy, "She is. She knocked Tai out of his funk, and me out of mine," he grinned a little wider, "I could do without the stinging though," he rubbed the still visible hand print on his face.

"Er," Lucy grimaced, "Sorry."

"No, you were right," Matt said, holding up his hands to stop her, "I was being a jerk. I needed someone to knock some sense into me, just like Tai did before."

The girl smiled happily at the older boy, "As long as one of you will return the favor for me if I ever start acting like a brat, why don't we consider it even?"

"Sounds good to me!" Tai said, standing there with his arms behind his head and a wide grin on his face.

"Me too!" Matt nodded.

"Can we eat now?" Skymomon groaned, holding her stomach. That got the group laughing as they headed into the restaurant. This time they could actually just eat and run, no hard feelings.

+-9

Some time later, the five Digidestined were traveling together up another rock path, away from the restaurant. They'd eaten their fill of food they prepared for themselves, and were moving on to find the rest of the group. Tai had just finished explaining the whole deal to his friends, and Matt was going over it again aloud.

"So everything is linked," he said, "If we don't fix things here, then the digimon will continue causing trouble in our world, too." Just as he finished, his Digivice and Tai's began beeping loudly.

"It's going off again," TK commented.

"It seems like every time this happens, we find one of our friends," Tai said, looking at his map.

"So there must be someone around here," Joe said, leaning over to look at the screen as well.

"But which direction?" TK wondered.

"Well, mine's pointing out there," the wild haired boy replied, pointing to the path that split along the coast of the large lake.

"Mine says they're off this way," Matt pointed to a path that led up a mountainous trail.

"I guess if we wanna find them, We're just gonna have to split up again," Tai suggested. It was not a popular idea, but it was what they were going to have to do.

"Yeah, I think you're right," the blonde said before turning to his younger brother, "TK, you hang with me."

"Cool, then Lucy and Joe will come with me," Tai grinned, "And just so nobody gets lost, let's meet at the foot of that mountain, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," the other boy grinned back. The two groups split up again, one going to the left, the other to the right,.

"Matt," TK began, "do you really think we'll meet again?"

"Yeah," the older blonde nodded, feeling more optimistic than he had in weeks, "Sure we will! I guarantee it."

"Farewell! Bye Bye! Auf Wiedersehen!" Tai called out energetically.

"How do you even spell that last one?" Lucy asked, looking puzzled.

"Hold up, don't go yet!" Joe cried, bending down, "I have to tie my shoe."

"Aw," the wild haired boy complained, "You're ruining our big, dramatic exit!" The laughter that was quick to follow let the boy know it was just a joke. The kids and digimon started chuckling as well.

Matt was grinning ear to ear as he walked along with his hands in his pockets, listening to his little brother laughed. This day hadn't turned out so bad after all.

Chapter Twenty One: End.

Please Enjoy.


	22. Chapter 22 Princess Karaoke

Chapter Twenty Two: Princess Karaoke

Lucy was looking at her Digivice oddly. It was... well, it was not looking back at her, but the image on the screen was reacting oddly to her. She was in a swan boat with Agumon again, following Tai and Joe. The problem came with the fact that, like Tai's Digivice, hers was picking up a signal. But it wasn't the same one he was getting.

"Who do you think it could be?" Agumon asked from beside the girl as they worked their legs off to pedal the boat through the waters.

"I don't know," she tilted her head to one side as she looked at the device, "But it's in the direction we've been going already, so maybe they're together."

"Yeah, that would be great!" the digimon grinned, "If Sora and Mimi are together there, and Matt went after Izzy, then we're closer than ever to being back together again!"

Atop the boat, resting her wings, Skymomon yawned long and loud, "Yeah," she mumbled, barely awake," That'd be great, I think."

Lucy shook her head, Skymomon was a napper. It seemed if they weren't doing anything important, the little digimon was napping the day away. Even right now. The lake, which seemed more like a small ocean in the middle of the continent, was too large for the little monkey to just keep flying about. She was a speed flier, not long distance.

"Yeah," the girl said, more to Agumon than her own sleepy partner, "As soon as we get everyone back together, we're sure to be able to send them home. Maybe we'll even find Gennai, I've got some major questions for Mister Wisdom and Wrinkles."

The yellow dinosaur chuckled at the nick name, "I don't think he'd like that," he said, holding one claw over his mouth to keep from actually laughing outright.

"Well, until he actually gives us some straight answers, that's what he gets," Lucy said, looking out the front of the boat, "I'm sure the others would like to know a few things, too."

"You know, I never thought about that," Agumon said, holding one claw to his chin, "I wonder if he knows why Tai and me went to the human world. Or maybe he knows how Kari, Tai's little sister, knew me."

"He might," the girl said, "so you see, we need to find him to get some answers just as much as we need to find the others."

"Speaking of finding things," the yellow dinosaur said, rather suddenly changing the topic, "I think we found where Mimi is." One claw was pointed at a gigantic structure in the middle of the great lake.

It was actually two rock islands, side by side, with grand buildings on each and a bridge connecting them. It looked like a genuine, ancient Chinese castle and a musical hall across the bridge.

"Wow," Joe breathed after climbing out of his boat, "This place is a palace."

"Yeah," Tai agreed from right beside him, "Just look at all those stairs, as if my legs weren't tired enough already."

"Definitely," Lucy agreed, rubbing her sore calf muscles, "But I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that Mimi's up there."

"I guess we should get the hard part over with," Joe took the lead this time, hi longer legs able to take him up the stairs faster than Tai and definitely Lucy.

Skymomon woke up the moment they landed, "I wonder if they have any food up there, I'm getting hungry."

"Yeah!" Gomamon grinned as he walked along on all fours behind his partner, "This place probably has a ton of food!"

"Alright!" Agumon cheered.

Lucy put a palm to her face, "Again? Really? Need I explain it again?"

"Explain what?" Joe asked as they made the long trek up the stairs, "What's going on?"

"Okay, you're kind of exempt, 'cause you weren't there when I told the others, but you should still have gotten the point by now," the pink haired girl explained, crossing her arms, "How many times have we come to some big place that looked entirely too good to be true? And how many times has it turned out to have a catch?"

"Well," Joe placed a hand on his chin, turning his eye's skywards, "Let's see..." he counted them off, mentally. The phone booths didn't work, the island with the trolley was connected to a giant sea dragon by it's tail, the village of Yokomon was nice enough if you over looked the bird food, the factory with Andromon was interesting if pointless, Monzaemon didn't turn out too bad, the mansion was an illusion, the church that he and Sora visited turned out to be inhabited by evil ghost digimon, the Pagumon were little pranksters who apparently liked to steal villages from other digimon, the coliseum turned out to be one of the scariest times he'd had on this world, the cruise liner was run by a jerk bird with a killer glare, the pyramid where they found Datamon was a big mix up that ended up getting Sora kidnapped, Demidevimon turned out to be a lying little cretin and the restaurant Joe had been found in was a total tourist trap.

"She's right, let's leave," the oldest boy said after considering all that, turning around to go back to the boats.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Tai said, "What about Mimi?"

Joe sighed, his shoulders slumping, "I don't suppose it's likely that Mimi would come down and find us?"

"I didn't mean to scare you, Joe," Lucy told him, "I just meant that we should be a little more cautious, don't you think?" she looked up at the building with a smile, "I mean, it would be totally awesome if we could get up there, find Mimi, Sora and a five star hotel, but it's probably something we're really not hoping to find. So let's go it with a little more attention to detail. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best."

"I guess that makes sense," the blue haired boy nodded and it had Tai grinning. Joe turned to the girl in question who was walking at the back of the group, "Want to take point on this one?"

Lucy just shook her head with a sigh. She did however take the lead. They were almost at the top anyways, so it wasn't so bad.

Once at the top of the stair case, they could see a lone way out from the island, the mountain that was the group's meeting point was clearly visible from there. The castle also looked bigger than ever from up close. It was grey brick with a green roof and almost as many windows as there were on Tai's apartment building back home.

"Wow," the pink haired girl breathed, "You could hide a bus in here and never find it."

"I'll say. What do you think is in there?" Tai asked.

"Hopefully?" Joe turned to the two of them and their digimon as they stood before the somewhat larger than human sized doors, "It'd be great if it was just Mimi and Palmon, doing some interior decorating."

Finally, after stalling enough, Lucy opened the door, Skymomon hanging onto her back so that she could see what was inside as soon as the human girl did.

What they found was... not exactly what they were expecting. Digimon? Yes. A lot of them? Yes. Frogs with horns- as in brass from an orchestra, horns-, coming out of their backs and wrapped around their throats and larger than average tadpoles that were a storm cloud purple, all running around in a big panic? Not so much.

"Is this a palace? Or some kind of looney bin?" Tai asked as the doors swung more open for him and Joe to see as well.

"Seems like it' both," the taller boy said.

"These are Gekomon?" Gomamon asked no one in particular was one ran around, it's mouth open and it's tongue hanging out for everyone to see. It was rather large and had three holes in the front, almost like it was also an instrument. "They love music," the seal digimon went on, "Not surprising, since they're born with those horns."

"And I've heard of the other digimon," Agumon told the group, "They're called Otamamon."

"Hurry!" one of the tadpole digimon cried, "She's gonna blow her top!" It hopped along in a right fit, looking for something, but none of the kids could tell what.

Another one of the green frogs went by, screaming his head off, "Hurry, hurry!"

"Um," Gomamon said, trying to get the attention of one of them, "hello?" The frog digimon stopped scurrying about and pulled his tongue back in his mouth, "We're looking for someone, can you help us?"

"It's about time you got here," the Gekomon said to them, annoyance in his swirly eyes, "Where' the hot fudge sundae we ordered for the princess?"

"That's not us," the whole group said together.

"Then you must be delivering her bacon chilli cheese burger with fries and a super sized milk shake," another came over.

"That not us, either," again, the whole group replied.

"Of course not!" A third Gekomon topped hi running, "They're delivering the garden fresh salad with low fat dressing without desert!"

"We want to ask a question, if you don't mind," Lucy was beginning to find it odd that all of them were saying the same thing at once. Could be worse, she supposed.

"Her highness asked for a fudge sundae!" the first one yelled at the other two frog digimon, raising his arms in the air and ignoring the kids now.

"No, she wants a bacon chilli cheese burger!" the second one yelled back.

"She said she wanted a Greek salad!" the last one started to shout as well.

"Hey, excuse me," Tai said, trying to stop their bickering and grab their attention, "Have you seen a girl named Mimi?"

"Hey!" A small voice came from beside the group. Turning to their right, they saw another one of those purple Otamamon. "We're ordering lunch here!"

"Then I'll have a burger," Joe requested.

The little thing ignored that, instead going on to say, "All the princess really cares about is that pokadot party dress she ordered."

"Old news," another tadpole came up beside the first, "Now she wants pink, leather pants with matching boots and accessories."

"No one told me that!" the first complained.

"Oh, get with the program!" the second scolded. Before long, the whole entrance hall was filled with arguing digimon, the three humans and their partners standing right by the door and wondering just what the heck all the noise was about.

"Sounds like this princess of theirs is extremely picky," Joe said, looking to the to the other two.

"She sounds kinda spoiled, if you ask me," Tai replied back.

"Don't forget flighty. If this is anything to go by, the girl changes her mind faster than a lightning bolt and each new request is more outrageous than the last," Lucy added.

"I wonder what happens if they don't do what she says," Agumon pondered aloud, looking from one arguing group to the other.

Almost at once, they stopped arguing, and spoke as one, "Here she comes!" then ran for the exits at either side of the entrance halls, not wanting to be caught for another weird demand. The kids weren't sure what to expect, but stayed right where they were.

"Presenting, her highness!" One of the Gekomon announced, "The Princess!"

"Cool!" Tai exclaimed as the group looked up to the second level of the entrance hall expectantly, "We get to meet the princess!"

What came from the door way above them and stood at the upper landing of the red carpeted stairs, was a mass of frilly white cloth pink ribbons and a gold crown. Inside the clothing was a surprisingly human looking figure, with an even more surprising face.

"Huh!?" both boys exclaimed, their eyes wide, "It's Mimi!"

"Oy vey," Lucy said, already holding a hand to her face. This was not going to be good.

The girl they had come to this place to look for was standing there looking down at them, the white and pastel pink of her dress making her look like a real, fairy tale princess. She held a collapsible fan with pink fuzz coming out of the top with one hand, and the Crest around her neck was the only thing from her old outfit.

"Bummer," she sighed, seeing the three kids in her castle. She already knew what they wanted, but the answer was gonna be no. "What a surprise," she said instead of outright kicking them out.

"You're tellin' me!" Tai exclaimed, "What are doing up there?"

"What do you think?" the girl smiled primly, unfolding her fan and holding it before her face, "I'm being a princess, of course?"

"So, you're the spoiled princess we've been hearing about!" Agumon exclaimed.

"We should have known it was Mimi," the boys and their digimon said bluntly. Lucy and Skymomon were standing off to the side by now. That was really not the smoothest way to go about this and she was hoping to distance herself from it.

"Don't you call me Mimi anymore!" the girl yelled down at them, "That's Princess now!" she crossed her arms and turned her nose up at the rag tag group below her.

Despite her snotty attitude, the girl offered the three kids and their partners an invite to meet with her in her room. She obviously still remembered that they were her friends, if only slightly.

"Wow," Lucy marveled, looking around the room, "I used to dream about having a room like this." It was colored in white and gold, had large windows with pink drapes, and a huge bed, probably softer than marshmallows, with pink curtains all around it.

"Well, the important thing is that you're alright," Joe said, trying not to focus on how utterly girly the room was.

"Yeah," Tai said, looking around at the rose print wall paper, "That's for sure," he turned to the girl in the poofy dress then, "Well, come on. Let's get a move on."

"No way!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Right," Joe nodded, "You want to change first. We'll wait."

"For what? I'm keeping this dress on," she told the older boy.

"And it's beautiful!" Agumon complimented happily, "But it's not the best thing to wear to walk long distances."

"Walking?" Mimi frowned, continuing to be rebellious to the idea of leaving, "I have no intention of walking anywhere!"

"Oh, boy," Lucy groaned, hands on her hips, "here comes the bad news."

"Are you expecting us to carry you out of here?" Joe asked, then drawled, "Your majesty."

"No, I'm not going!" She said, holding her fan in both of her white gloved hands.

"Huh?" the boys and their digimon all intoned.

"Well, there's a shocker," the pink haired girl drawled, "Mimi wants to stay here and be a princess instead of going out on the road, fighting for her life, finding good food occasionally and doing without a big comfy bed to sleep in for who knows how long? My goodness! Who could have possibly guessed?" she feigned surprise.

"Exactly," Mimi said, not catching the sarcasm in the younger girl's tone, "Why would I leave? I am a princess here. Besides, who knows if we'll ever find our way home? So, I might as well live large and in charge."

"You must be kidding," Joe said, trying to figure out the punch line to this bad joke.

"No way!" Mimi aid, smiling at them for a moment as she turned, "Look around. I've got a nice bed, pretty clothes, good food! It's like having a birthday every day! I am a princess!" she turned around to face the boys again, a light frown on her pretty face, "And you want me to give this up? I don't think so!"

From the hallway outside the room, another familiar voice could be heard, "Is something wrong?"

"Another servant?" Agumon wondered.

"No," Gomamon told him, "It's Palmon."

"Finally, a voice of reason," Joe said, "Palmon, come talk some sense into Mimi."

"As in princess?" the plant digimon asked as walked into the room and the boys and their digimon were knocked off their feet by her appearance.

"Hey, Palmon!" Skymomon waved at the other digimon, "You're looking very... pink!"

"Thank you!" The plant digimon curtsied in her pink dress, matching Mimi's own.

"Aw, man! Not you, too!" the blue haired boy shouted in despair to the flower headed digimon.

"And, Lucy, don't tell me you want to stay here now, too!" Tai pleaded with the younger girl.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, "Of course I want to stay."

"Aw, jeeze," Joe held a hand to his head, "We're losing the battle."

"But we wont lose the war!" the wild haired boy said next, "Now, it's time to end this dumb game! Mimi, Palmon, get out of those ridiculous clothes and let's get going. Lucy, stop encouraging them."

"Hey," the pink haired girl said, "I said I wanted to stay, not that I was going to."

Mimi had enough by then, raising her voice, "I'm not playing a game, Tai! I'm staying!" she glared at the three children, "Why don't you go look for the others? Be gone from my palace!" she pointed her fan out of her room commandingly.

"Wait, Mimi," Palmon said, actually trying to argue the point for her friends for the moment, "Don't be mean, they're our friends."

But the brown haired girl wouldn't hear it, "If you wanna go, be my guest!"

"You're coming with us!" Tai shouted back, "Get down off that high horse of yours and shift your rear into high gear!"

"Yeah," Joe said, a lot more calm than the other boy, "C'mon, why do you think we almost killed ourselves trying to find you? Because you are part of the team."

"That's very nice, but I am not going!" The girl had stopped yelling at least, but she was still being stubborn, turning away from the kids and crossing her arms petulantly.

"That's it, Mimi!" Tai yelled, then sank down to his rear end on her soft carpet, "Like it or not, Joe's right, we gotta stick together! So, I'm not budging from this spot until you come to your senses and leave with us!"

"Yeah!" Agumon ascented, sitting down with his legs crossed right next to his partner.

"Right!" Gomamon was next, looking a little awkward as he sat up on his rear flippers.

Mimi opened her eyes, but in her light brown eyes there was no understanding or acceptance, only anger and stubbornness, "Really? You all keep forgetting who's in charge around here." She reached behind her and pulled out a small golden bell. She swung it side to side, making a delicate ringing sound.

Seconds after that, the door to her room burst open and the kids were met with the sight of a wall of Gekomon. All of them looked eagerly to Mimi, around the other kids without paying them a wink of attention

"Your highness!" one at the lead said, "What it is that you desire?"

"I desire these rude and bothersome peasants to be removed from my boudoir at once!" she turned away from the kids again, her nose upturned and her eyes closed.

"Yes, princess!" the lead Gekomon said again. The flood of frog digimon into the room was a little frightening actually. They grabbed the three kids and carted them along to the front door where they and their digimon partners were dropped on their rear ends.

"If that's the way you treat your guests, we're never coming back!" Gomamon told the green digimon.

Tai and Joe quickly got to their feet while Lucy lay there for a moment, grumbling to herself.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Joe asked as he adjusted his glasses on his nose, "She's totally obsessed with this digi-fairy tale."

"I wonder what she could have done to get them to wait on her hand and foot like this," Tai told the other boy before turning and offering a hand up to the pink haired girl. She took it, just as one of the Gekomon spoke.

"You really wanna know?" he asked with a sigh.

"Uh, sure!" Tai nodded.

"We've got nothing much better to do," Lucy said with a shrug, "If we can figure out what's going on, maybe we can get her to come with us."

"Follow us," another one said. A couple of Otamamon had appeared as well. All five of the amphibian digimon looked worn down, bags under their eyes and everything. They led the way across the bridge to the other building.

"I hope you're not leading us to an evil digimon, are you?" Joe asked as they walked toward the large doors.

"Uh-uh," one of the Gekomon shook his head.

"What if Mimi catches us?" Tai asked.

"She wont," the Otamamon assured them.

Inside the other building, which was just as large as the palace, but completely hollow, aside from a stage with huge speakers, a microphone and a massive orange ball of a digimon wearing a giant leaf necklace, a long dangling limb coming out of the back of his head that ended in blue hair, and two golden horns coming out of his shoulders, one to each.

"This is our master," one of the Gekomon gestured to the huge digimon with it's back to the group, "Shogungekomon."

"Whoa!" Tai exclaimed, "Somebodies had way too many donuts!"

"Is it a statue or what?" Joe asked, looking at the huge creature with awe in his eyes.

"No, it's not a statue," another told them, "He's very much alive."

"Huh?" the group asked together.

"He may be alive, but he's not lively, is he?" Agumon said.

"He's sleeping!" one of the Otamamon spoke.

"He's been this way for over three hundred years," the lead frog digimon explained, "You see, Lord Shogungekomon was proud of his voice and entered a singing contest, but he lost. He felt so badly about it that he fell into a deep sleep, from which he's never recovered. It's said only a voice as beautiful as the one that beat him can wake him," the little guy looked to the floor sadly, "For centuries we've tried, but every song has failed."

The third frog digimon stepped forward then, "We Gekomon love music, but, unfortunately, not one of us has a voice that could be considered beautiful."

"Then we got a break," the other tadpole said, "A strange little digimon spoke of a girl with a pretty voice. He told us where to find her and we did. We told her of our problem with our master and she was only too happy to help."

"Her voice was so beautiful," one of the creatures mused, holding his webbed hands together, "But she forgot the words. We offered her a feast, to help her remember. She remembered the words, but then she told us that we needed more showmanship, dancers, costumes, that kind of thing. We did that, but by then it was late evening and she was way too tired to sing."

"And that's the way it's been," an Otamamon said in despair, "one excuse after another."

"We've done all she' wanted. We even decorated the entire palace for her," another frog said, "I used to like pink, but now I can't stand to look at it."

"And if we ever complain," the tadpole digimon spoke again, "She starts saying things like how she was going to lose her voice and not be able to sing at all."

"So we're in a terrible position," the other one said, "You see, we're totally helpless."

Lucy stood to the side, sighing, "Oh boy, this is gonna be a tough nut to crack."

"Unfortunately, you've given Mimi the life she's been accustomed to, and then some," Joe told the digimon.

"Well, since you're friends of hers," one of them began.

"Could you please reason with her, please! We'll be eternally grateful!" one of the tadpoles finished.

"That's the attitude that got you in this mess to start with," the pink haired girl told the amphibians, "You need to stand up for yourselves a little more."

"What are you talking about?" One of the frogs asked.

"Stop giving her everything she wants," Lucy said simply.

"But, then she'll never sing, and Shogungekomon will never wake up!" one of them wailed.

"Uh-huh," Lucy sighed, crossing her arms, "And as long as you keep giving her everything she wants, she's never gonna sing."

"It's a vicious circle," Skymomon said.

"Well, don't worry," Tai said with a grin, "I've got a plan that will solve all your problems." He pointed at himself with a thumb.

"Huh?" Joe and Lucy intoned, turning to look at their friend.

"I knew it!" One of them exclaimed, "I knew you'd come through!"

"What are you thinking, Tai?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, tell us this plan of yours," the girl said.

"Who says you need you need Mimi to wake up Jumbo," the wild haired boy pointed up at the sleeping giant, "Crank it up and let me take a shot!" he picked a microphone up off the ground. The Gekomon, Otamamon, Agumon, Gomamon and Joe had large sweat drops. Lucy was already leaving. "Hey! Where are you going, Lucy?"

"I'm not a fan of amateur karaoke," Lucy said, "So, this is my cue to go check on the boats."

"I'll go with you," Skymomon said, crawling up onto the human girl's back.

They left the building and closed the doors just in time to shut out Tai's bad singing. Luckily, there was soon another distraction for the girl to put her mind to. Her Digivice started beeping again.

"Check it out, Skymomon, I'm picking someone up on my Digivice," she told the monkey. She held it before her. She saw the two red dots on the map that equaled Joe and Tai, and a third that was undoubtedly Mimi over in the palace. But around the base of the island was another red dot.

"Do you think it's Sora?" The flying digimon asked.

"Could be," the human girl shrugged, "But either way, we should go check it out." She made her way to the stairs down to the beach, they were a lot easier to take going down than going up. She held her device before her when she got to the beach. According to the map on the little screen, the other person on the island should be around on the back side, opposite from their boats.

The girl made her way around, occasionally checking her digivice to see if the coordinates had changed or anything. They stayed the same for the fifth person on the island, but Tai and Joe were doing something near Mimi's room again. She finally made it around to the other side in time to see the familiar yellow shirt and blue helmet disappear around a corner.

"Sora!" Lucy called, "Sora, it's me, Lucy!" she ran after the girl. She turned the corner, but there was no sight of the older red head.

"Where'd she go?" Skymomon asked, "Do you think Biyomon turned into Birdramon and they flew away?"

"No way," the human girl shook her head, "We'd have seen that, and why would she run from us?" she looked at her Digivice again. The red dot showed that Sora was still close by, but now she was on top of the island. Or in it. "I know you're here, Sora!" she called out to the older girl. She began walking alongside the rock face, dragging her hand along it, feeling for any hidden gaps, like there were in the pyramid back in the desert. "Why are you hiding from us?" She asked.

There was no answer, but Lucy knew she was getting closer to the girl from the dot on her map.

Finally, halfway back towards the boats again, her hand passed through the rock like it wasn't even there. She immediately went in, not even hesitating for a moment. Inside she found a dark cavern. Just a little ways inside was Sora. She was trying futilely to hide behind a rock. Biyomon was right there with her, and the bird digimon had spotted Lucy and her partner.

"Sora-" She began, but the human girl shushed her.

"Be quiet, Biyomon, or she'll hear us," she whispered.

"A little late for that, Sora," Lucy said, crossing her arms.

The older girl jumped, startled, but sighed as she stood up from behind the rock, turning to look at the younger girl, "It's good to see you again, Lucy."

"If it's so good to see me, why were you running away?" the girl was honestly curious, "I'm not gonna attack you or something."

"I know," the older girl looked at the ground and gripped her right arm around the bicep, "It' just... complicated."

"Then tell me about it," Lucy insisted, "I promise I wont laugh or anything. Just let me help. Let us all help."

"I..." the girl sighed, "I'm not ready to come back to the group yet."

Lucy stared at the girl, trying to figure her out. Why would she not want to be with the rest of the group? Did she do something she wasn't proud of? Did she think they wouldn't welcome her back.

"Okay," Lucy told her, "Then we wont go back to the others, yet. I wont force you to do something you don't want to."

"Thank you," the older girl sighed in relief, then blinked in confusion, "Why did you say we?"

"Because," the pink haired grinned victoriously, "I wont make you face the others until you're ready, and you can't make me leave you alone."

"Wha?" the older girl was struck dumb by that proclamation, then narrowed her eyes, "I could just hop on Birdramon and fly away."

"SkyYetimon is faster, you'd never lose me," the little girl grinned wider, "Besides, you don't want to leave until you're sure that everyone is okay and Mimi has rejoined the others."

"And how do you know that?" Sora crossed her arms, "I may have just come here on accident."

"Nope, you came on purpose. I know because Agumon told us that he heard your voice tell him about the mushrooms back in the amusement park," Lucy crossed her own arms this time, "And I'll bet you helped out Matt and Joe at the restaurant before we arrived."

Sora glared at the younger girl, trying to stare her down. Lucy looked her right in the eye, green meeting brown without wavering in their conviction. This little staring contest went on until they heard a very loud scream, enhanced by a speaker.

"That sounded like Mimi," Sora gasped, moving towards the exit to the cave. Lucy didn't try to stop her, simply letting her lead the way around the island to a secret set of stairs. "If that's what I think it was, Mimi' about to throw the boys in the dungeon!" the red head exclaimed.

"What do we do?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know, we have to make sure they're all okay first!" the taller girl was the first one to the barred window, ducking just below it as they heard voices from inside. Lucy came over just in time to hear a cell door close and Mimi's voice.

"So, you thought you could pull a fast one on Princess Mimi, did you?" you could hear the arrogance oozing from the girl.

"That' Princess Meanie!" Tai shouted back angrily.

"Tai's got a way with words," Lucy sighed softly so as not to be heard by anyone inside.

"Yeah!" Agumon agreed with Tai's assessment.

"Who do you think you are, anyway?" that was Joe now, trying to get her to see what she was doing, "Don't you remember we're your friends?"

"I remember you tried to trick me," the girl told the blue haired boy.

"We tried to trick you because we're trying to save you!" Tai told her, "Have you completely forgotten about the Crest of Sincerity?"

"Have you completely forgotten it's not nice to lock people up in your dungeon?" Agumon demanded, "Where's your manners?"

"Hmph!" The girl turned her nose up at that, walking away.

"Wait!" Tai ordered, but she ignored him.

"Uh," Palmon ran up to the bars of the cell, "Before you go, I have something I wanna tell you." Sora and Lucy were just peaking through the bars. Mimi looked at the plant digimon that had been stripped of her pretty dress with a frown on her face, but waited for her to speak. "Nobody likes you more than I do," the plant digimon closed her solid green eyes for a moment to find the strength to speak, "It hurts me deeply to have to say this, but... You're a spoiled brat!"

Mimi gasped, her eyes widening for a moment before she frowned again and turned away from the digimon, "Is that a fact? Well, it's nice to know how you really feel!" She started walking away again. Palmon couldn't look more depressed if she tried.

"What can we do?" Sora sighed. This situation was so messed up. She wasn't sure if Mimi was even consciously aware of how much of a brat she was being. "That's it!" she exclaimed quietly, "C'mon, if you're gonna follow me around, we need to be sneaky. I know the way to go to get up to Mimi's room secretly."

"Then what?" Lucy asked, following her quietly, "What are you planning?"

"We're going to influence Mimi through her dreams," Sora grinned back at the younger girl.

+-9

That night, as Mimi lay asleep in her bed, she began to have a horrible nightmare. She was all alone, in a dark place, and Devimon and Etemon were coming towards her. She stood there in her princess clothing, staring in horror at the beasts coming right for her.

She turned to her side, looking for anyone to help her. Luckily she found a few Gekomon and Otamamon.

"Hurry, stop them!" she ordered, "I've got to have your help!"

"Sorry," the group said together, frowning at her.

Mimi gasped then frowned, threatening them with what always worked before, "Oh yeah!? Then I wont sing anymore!"

"Big deal," the Gekomon in the center told her, "You didn't sing even when we did what you wanted."

"You're on your own," another said before all six of them turned around, leaving her to face the evil digimon by herself.

"Wait! Don't leave me! I'll sing for you, I promise!" her pleas went ignored as the amphibious digimon faded away.

Next to appear were Joe, Lucy, Tai, their digimon and Palmon. They were all glaring at the girl.

"Help me, please?" She begged the boys and girl.

They began drifting away as Tai spoke, "Sorry, but we only help our friends."

"What's wrong, Mimi?" Agumon asked.

"What's the matter?" Joe asked now, a the three kids and their digimon began to fade away, "I thought you were having the time of your life."

"Palmon!" Mimi cried to the last visible digimon, but said plant began walking backwards.

"I've gotta go now, Mimi," the plant told her, "Goodbye." She faded away as well, leaving the girl in princess clothes truly alone before the evil digimon that even now were still approaching.

The girl screamed as they came at her.

In the waking world, Mimi was tossing and turning in her bed, moaning fearfully, "Oh! Why wont anybody help me?" she gripped her blanket, "Please! Palmon! Don't leave me!"

"Hey," Sora called softly.

"Huh?" Mimi groggily opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sora standing there. But this had to be a dream. Sora couldn't be there. No one knew where she'd gone.

"Hey, Mimi," the red head greeted her.

"Sora? Where am I?" Mimi breathed out, "What-?"

"Do you have any idea what that horrible dream was trying to tell you, Mimi?" Sora asked.

"I'm sorry!" Mimi told her, closing her eyes to hold back the tears, "Oh, I really am!"

"Well, then you know what you have to do to make things right," the other girl smiled at her.

"Yes," the brown haired girl nodded. Sora smiled brightly and held the girls hands between her own.

"That a girl!" Sora smiled at her, "I knew you'd find yourself again." The lights began to blind the girl, her crest glowing so brightly she had to close her eyes. "And tell the others, that Lucy is with me and not to worry."

The bright light faded and Mimi opened her eyes. There was no sign what so ever of the girl she thought she was just talking to.

"Sora?" she questioned the air, but received no response. She decided it must have been a dream. She never noticed that the balcony doors were left open, letting in a cool lake breeze. Instead, she got up, found her real clothes, and wrang her bell. She told the Gekomon that arrived to gather everyone, even their prisoners in the auditorium with Shogungekomon. She had something to say.

+-9

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked, yelling over the whipping win as she rode in the arms of SkyYetimon.

"The mountain!" Sora shouted back, "I heard Tai say you were all going to meet there, and you can bet that creep, Demidevimon, did too! We'll be there to stop him if he tries something!"

"Okay!" Lucy yelled, "Will you come back to the group after we get rid of the little lying bat?"

"...Maybe."

+-9

"Well, that was fun," Tai said with a sigh as he headed towards one of the boats, "Glad it's all over with."

"Tell me about it," Joe breathed, slumping over, "Let's just find Lucy and get the heck out of here."

"Yeah," Tai said, suddenly pensive as he held Koromon after he had reverted from Metalgreymon, "About that. Have you seen her since she left us in the auditorium?"

"Now that you mention it," Gomamon began.

"Did you see her?" Agumon asked Palmon and Mimi.

"No, I didn't see her before I talked to you," Palmon said.

"Well," Mimi put a finger to her chin, looking skyward, "You know, before I came down here, I had an awful dream about everyone leaving me alone to fight evil digimon. After that I had another dream where Sora told me what I needed to do. At the end of it, she said she was taking Lucy with her."

"Really?" Tai asked, "Are you sure it was just a dream?"

"I don't know," The pink hat wearing girl admitted, "I was really tired at the time. I couldn't tell you one way or the other."

"Aw, man," Joe sighed now, "We get one and lose one. And we had to split up before coming here. I hope Matt and TK have had better luck than us."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Joe," Gomamon pat his partner on the leg.

"Yeah, big guy, even if Lucy split up to go with Sora, she knows we're supposed to meet at the base of the Mountain. Everything will be normal again, soon!" Tai grinned, "Now, let's get pedaling!" he crawled into a boat and Joe got in next to him, while Agumon got in the one with Mimi and Palmon.

"I'll help you pedal," Agumon said with a grin.

"Thank you, Agumon!" She hugged him momentarily, "I really don't deserve such good friends, but I'll try to be better from now on, I promise."

"I know you will, Mimi," Palmon smiled at her partner, "You're a good girl, you just get confused sometimes."

With that, the six of them left the island far behind them.

Chapter Twenty Two: End.

Please Enjoy.


	23. Chapter 23 Sora's Crest of Love

Chapter Twenty Three: Sora's Crest of Love

Lucy wished every problem they faced was as simple as whacking somebody over the head. It had worked with Tai and Matt for a couple reasons. One, she was a girl and those two were chivalrous to some degree, they'd never hit her back unless she was going after their little brother or sister respectively. Two, for those boys it was a little easier to get the posturing out of the way from the start by giving them a good whack. It wouldn't even work on all the boys. Joe would just immediately shrink away from the problem, Izzy would go even more introverted than he was, Mimi would probably be broken by physical violence, smacking TK on the back of the head would end up getting her knocked on her rear end by Matt and Sora would just hit her back.

She sighed deeply to herself as she sat up to make sure the girl was still in camp. Yep. There she lay, right next to Biyomon, curled up on her side, her breaths coming out slowly. Lucy lay back down, resting her arms behind her head. Things sure got complicated fast when you couldn't just beat it up, or laugh it away.

She supposed that meant she was growing up, since she didn't always turn to that as the answer. It could also just mean she didn't understand the proper application of violence to get the job done, or the right joke to tell.

"I'll just have to believe it'll work out in the end," she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes. She drifted off to sleep, trying to think o solutions to the problem Sora had presented to her. The girl still hadn't told her why she was staying away from the others. Not that she'd pushed for an answer.

As such, her dreams that night were a little... odd.

+-9

The next morning, a little while after the sun had risen, Tai, Joe and Mimi had finally made it back across the lake. The spoiled girl was probably the worst off of them all. She had to pedal a boat across those waters right next to Agumon, the digimon had a lot more muscle than she did and that entire trip was causing her legs to ache more than ever.

"C'mon, Mimi," Tai said with a grin, "time to get off your throne," he offered her a hand up.

"Oh," she groaned, "I would hardly call this a throne," she took his hand.

"And I'd hardly call you a princess," he grinned at her to take the sting out of his words.

"Guys! Over here!"

The group of three plus their digimon turned at the call to see Matt, Izzy, TK and their digimon coming down a path that led from the forest.

"Hey!" Joe exclaimed with a smile, "It's Matt!" He waved to the blonde.

The three on the beach waited for the three from the path to reach them, the break very much needed. Once there though, the reunion was all smiles and good feelings.

Palmon stood before Tsunomon, Motimon and Koromon, a smile on her face, "It's been so long since I've seen you! My how you've... shrunk."

As one, the three of them replied, "Don't rub it in."

"Did you find Sora? Or Lucy?" Tai asked Matt.

"No, I haven't seen Sora. And wasn't Lucy with you?" he asked in return.

"Yeah, but, well," the wild haired boy turned to the girl in the pink hat, "You wanna take this one on, Mimi?"

"Sure," she stepped forward, "I had a dream after Tai, Joe and Lucy found me that Sora came into my room. She helped me realize some things. But as the dream ended, she said she was taking Lucy with her. When we started to come back here, we couldn't find Lucy anywhere. I'm not sure if it was a dream, or Sora was actually there, but I really hope she was, because otherwise Lucy might be in danger now."

"And, you know, when I was about to eat one of those mushrooms of forgetfulness, I heard Sora's voice. She's the one that told me they were bad," Koromon said next.

"That's weird," Tai said.

"But then," TK began, "If Sora is actually close to where we are, why doesn't she come out and tell us?"

"Well, maybe Sora just doesn't want to," Matt theorized, "Even worse, maybe she just can't."

"But what about Lucy?" Joe brought up now, "Is she actually with Sora? Or did some evil digimon catch her? Or did she simply run away for some reason?"

"I don't think it was that last one," the blonde boy said, "You heard what she said to me back at the restaurant, Joe. There's no way she'd just up and leave after saying things like that."

Beeping started up from Tai, Izzy and Matt's Digivices then. The three boy's unclipped them and held them up to look at the screens. All three showed the same thing. A great mass of red dots that would be the six of them, there on the beach, and two more, some ways off.

"Check it out," the blonde boy said, "I think I've found them. It looks like they're together right now. Let's find them, quick!"

"It's almost like they're playing tag with us," Tai commented as he looked to his own device.

"Come on! The signal points this way," Izzy told the rest of the group as the three boys started leading the procession of children and digimon into the forest.

+-9

Far away, atop a mountain under dark clouds, the sounds of pain could be heard, echoing from a stone mansion. Inside the mansion, only dimly lit by torches, a familiar little digimon was bouncing down the stairs, bruises and welts covering him. Standing at the top of the stairs was a menacing, human looking figure. He had slicked back blonde hair, a red opera mask, blue eyes, a black silk cape with a red interior and a high collar, his clothing was royal blue from head to toe with golden trim, a golden bat shaped clasp holding his cape on and dark brown gloves and boots.

This was Myotismon, a vampire digimon with aspirations greater than either Devimon or Etemon.

"Because of your stupidity, all of my evil plans have failed," the evil digimon scolded Demidevimon, holding one corner of his cape over the lower part of his face.

"Forgive my mistakes, Master Myotismon," the little digimon bowed deeply, pressing his face into the floor, "I beg you!"

"Courage," he spoke, his deep baritone filling the air ominously," Hope. Friendship. The childrens' Crests are beginning to glow, one by one!"

"Everyone makes mistakes. Remember Disco?" Demidevimon said as he lifted his face from the ground, "Besides, sir, not all the childrens' Crests have begun to glow yet," the little digimon closed his eyes and focused all his energy, opening a viewing portal. It showed Sora sitting despondently on the ground with Biyomon right next to her. "That girl has the Crest of Love, and it's still not glowing, thanks to me!" he cackled for a couple seconds, but shook it off, turning to his master, "Anyway, according to my schedule, she'll be meeting up with the other children very soon. And when she does, Master Myotismon, when they are all together, that's when I'll get 'em!"

"You think you can?" the vampire sneered, "If you fail me again, my bats will have a new chew toy, you!" He turned on his heel, walking back down the dark hallway behind him and leaving his minion groveling.

The blue masked digimon was bowing again, pressing his face into the floor, grumbling, "I hate bats!"

+-9

"Sora!" Tai's voice echoed through the woods.

"Sora! Where are you?" Izzy was next.

"Lucy!" Matt called.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" TK shouted, his hands cupped around his mouth to amplify the sound.

Joe was walking behind them, a breathy groan coming out of his mouth, "Why don't we find a spot to rest for the night?" he asked. They had been walking all day, looking for the two missing members of their group, "Or better yet, for the next couple of weeks. My feet are killing me. Not to mention every other part of my body."

Mimi was also in line with that thinking. Being pampered so extensively by the Gekomon and Otamamon hadn't prepared her for walking all day through the jungle. She collapsed to her knees, sighing tiredly.

"I can't go another inch," she said.

"Hold it," Matt ordered, looking at the device in his hand, "I'm getting a reading on my Digivice."

"Really?" TK asked, "What is it?" Patamon was resting on his head, like Tokomon used to do. Luckily, there wasn't much weight difference between the two.

The screen on Mat's Digivice showed the red dots that were Sora and Lucy as right nearby. They could be standing right on top of them if he didn't know any better.

But another sound was also coming through the air. It sounded like a fly, orbiting someone's head.

"What's that buzzing?" Patamon asked.

"I wonder if it's Sora and Lucy," the youngest boy in the group pondered. The procession turned to watch the trees where the buzzing was coming from. It was getting closer and louder every second.

"What's that sound?" Tai asked, just now noticing it.

Just then, out of the trees, came a giant black and yellow wasp digimon. It had a large black beak, black stripes going all down it's body, and a mane of red hair around it's head. On the end of it's thorax was a pair of large, red stingers. It buzzed past the kids, forcing them to duck or be hit.

"Flymon's here!" Koromon shouted.

The huge wasp digimon turned around in the air, then, and made another run at the kids, this time firing off his attack, "_Brown Stingers!_" At once, several stingers shot at the kids, causing them to scramble out of the way or be skewered by the spikes that were thicker than their legs.

Izzy quickly moved behind a tree and opened his computer, "Maybe this digimon analyzer that Gennai gave me could help us out," the screen booted up, at first it was blank, not showing anything but a white space, but that was soon filled with an image of the digimon attacking them, "Here he is! Flymon, classified as an Insect digimon, a virus type, and I think we already know what his attack is," the rest of the group came in close, looking at his screen as he analyzed the attacking monster, "and it's not very pleasant. And here he comes, now!" the boy warned the others as he noticed the fast approach of the insectoid.

"_Brown Stingers!_" It fired off another spike at the kids. They just barely ducked out of the way in time to let it strike the tree.

Tai in particular just barely dived to the ground in time to miss being impaled on the shoulder.

"Careful, Tai!" Koromon cried out.

On its return trip, the buzzing bug targeted Matt. The blonde boy cried out in fright as another spike shot just past his ear.

"Look out, Matt!" Tsunomon yelled.

With the danger to their partners growing, the two digimon began to Digivolve. Koromon was once more Agumon, and Tsunomon turned into Gabumon. They both stood protectively by their partners as they powered up their signature attacks.

"_Pepper Breath!_"

"_Blue Blaster!_"

The orange and blue flames flew at the insect digimon, but Flymon just dodged the attacks as easily one would dodge a slow moving beach ball.

"It's just not working," Motimon despaired from next to Izzy, "They need more help."

Gomamon and Palmon heard this and gathered their energy for an attack of their own.

"_Marching Fishes!_"

"_Poison Ivy!_"

Yet again, though, the bug digimon just dodged them like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Then he turned around and attacked them again, firing off more of the spikes from the end of his thorax.

"_Brown Stingers!_" The spikes hit the ground between Mimi and Palmon, forcing them to fall away from each other. The flying insect turned around again, approaching Tai faster than ever when a familiar fire bird lifted out of the trees with a keening call.

"It's Birdramon!" Motimon shouted happily.

The giant flaming bird lifted high into the air and the flames of her wings burned extra hot for a few moments, "_Meteor Wing!_" The streaks of fire from the huge digimon's wings flashed through the air at Flymon. It was able to dodge the first few before being struck and set ablaze. It fell out of the sky with a roaring buzz of pain.

"If Birdramon's here, then so is Sora! And maybe even Lucy!" Tai exclaimed, following the flaming bird with his eyes

Already, Birdramon was flying off, obscured by the trees before long.

"Sora!" The boy cried, running after the bird digimon. Matt was right behind him, and they were quickly followed by Agumon and Gabumon.

"Wait up, Tai!" The yellow dinosaur called.

"We're coming!" the fur covered digimon said.

"I'm going with you!" TK shouted after the older boys, Patamon taking to the air to follow him.

"Wait for me, TK!" he cried.

A good distance ahead of them. Sora was running for her life. She'd lost Lucy, now she just had to get rid of the others. She came to a stream with a few rocks she could use to hop across. She climbed down one steep bank, then up the other and kept running, looking behind her.

She almost missed it as the bushes to the right of the path ahead of her rustled and Tai leapt out, directly in front of her. She skidded to a stop, her eyes wide.

"Sora," he huffed, "It's you!"

The girl quickly turned around to run in the other direction, only to find Matt and TK blocking that path as well.

"So, why were you running away?" The blonde boy asked.

"Enough running," Tai said, still huffing and puffing," Tell us what's going on."

"Yeah," Said a familiar raspy voice from the tree behind the girl, "I'd like a good idea of why you tried to ditch me back there." Lucy was calmly sitting on a branch in the pink and blue tree, Skymomon right beside her, the both of them looking as comfortable as could be. It was almost like they'd been waiting there for this confrontation.

Sora sighed sadly, staring at the ground as she made a kind of sad hum.

"Lucy," Tai huffed, "Good to see you again!"

"You too, Tai, Matt, TK," she hopped down out of the tree, "What's going on, Sora? Why wont you let us help you?"

"Sora," TK said through gasps for breath, "Does this mean that you don't like us anymore?"

"No," she shook her head slowly, "Of course not."

"Then, what's wrong?" he asked.

Biyomon came down out of the sky then, landing next to the girl in question, "Sora, why don't you tell them?" she suggested to the human girl.

"Okay," she sighed, still not looking up from the ground, "It happened the night that Biyomon and I left. I saw a strange digimon, he looked like a bowling ball with wings, and he was talking to something in a giant bubble."

"So could you hear what he was saying?" TK asked.

"Yeah, I heard him talking about our Crests," she told them.

"What about them?" Tai asked, now, wondering what would be so important about them, other than causing their digimon to evolve farther.

"He was saying that each of our Crests has its own, special meaning," she explained to them, "For example, Tai, yours is the Crest of Courage."

"The Crest of Courage?" he parroted questioningly, "That's right! In the pyramid, I was afraid to walk through the electrical wall, but I did it anyway. I fought past my fear and then the Crest started to glow!"

"And the Crest that you have, Matt, is the Crest of Friendship," Sora told the older blonde boy.

He pulled it out of his shirt to look at the symbol etched into pendant around his neck, "Friendship," he breathed.

"And mine?" TK asked, holding out his Crest.

"Yours is special, TK," she told him with a small smile, "It's the Crest of Hope."

"Alright!" he grinned and turned to Patamon, "I _Hope_ we can get back home."

"You too, Lucy, yours is a different from the others, like TK's. Yours is the Crest of Faith," she turned to the pink haired girl for a moment.

"Faith," the girl said, looking at her pure white Crest, "He said he believed in me, so I started to as well. That's how I escaped the dark place," she mumbled to herself.

"Izzy's Crest is the Crest of Knowledge," Sora went on, "Joe's is the Crest of Reliability. And Mimi's is the Crest of Sincerity," she sighed and pulled her own pinkish red crest out of her shirt, "And finally mine. Mine is the Crest of Love."

Tai was smiling off to the side, "Wow, the Crest of Love? That's just perfect for you, Sora."

The girl whirled on him, a glare on her face, "No it's not! You're wrong!" she yelled, startling the boy, "Don't even say that, Tai! It's not like me at all!"

"But, Sora, it is like you," the wild haired boy told her, "You're always thinking of everyone else!"

"No way!" She denied vehemently, "I don't care what happens to everyone else! The truth is, you don't know the first thing about me! So, back off!"

Tai's jaw was hanging open after that tirade. He almost couldn't believe this was really the same girl that traveled with them before he got transported to the human world.

The girl gasped to herself when she realized the things she'd just yelled. Her shoulders slumped and she was staring at the ground again.

"I'm sorry, Tai," she sighed.

"Sora, what's the matter?" the boy asked, realizing that there was something bigger going on.

"It's just that my Crest," she paused, looking at the pendant in her hand again, "It wont glow!"

"Huh?" Tai blinked in confusion.

"It's because I don't have any love," she explained, her voice quivering, as she sat down against the tree that Lucy had been sitting in, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"You love us, don't you, Sora?" TK asked the girl, trying to look her in the eye.

Lucy sighed as she stood next to the girl with Skymomon on her back, looking over her shoulder. Again, complication. Why couldn't it be simple? Maybe she could get Izzy to hack into the Digiworld again and enter a cheat code or something.

"Man, I don't get it," Tai said, placing his hands behind his head, "Why is it that girls have to get so emotional when it comes to love?"

"Spoken like a true, twelve year old boy," Lucy said with a grimace.

"Leave her alone, Tai," Matt warned him off.

"I was just jokin' around," the wild haired boy defended himself.

"The digimon thought I was funny, too," Sora grumbled, "He was Demidevimon, and he had heard of us, the Digidestined, and me specifically. He knew I have the Crest of Love, and he knows I can't make it glow. He told me I'd never be able to do it."

"That's it?" Tai asked in disbelief, "I thought it was something serious like they were gonna stop making those stuffed bean bag animals. Besides, Demidevimon is a liar."

"I can vouch for that," Lucy nodded, "And so can TK, Matt, Joe and the digimon."

"You bet!" Patamon nodded, "Demidevimon is no good!"

"Even so," Sora said, "It's true. It started back when I was on a girl's soccer team. My family owned a flower shop. It was my mom's whole life. One afternoon we were supposed to play in a championship. I begged my mom, pleaded and pleaded with her, but she wouldn't let me go play with them because my knee was a little achy. I told her I was fine, but she still wouldn't let me. Then she broke the bad news," Sora heaved her heaviest sigh yet, "She told me I couldn't play soccer anymore. She wanted me to work in the shop. I told her I wouldn't do it, that I wanted to play soccer so much more than work with flowers, but she just didn't understand. I couldn't take it anymore, so I left. I walked around for hours. I found myself at the soccer field. The game had just finished."

"What happened?" Tai asked, riveted by her tale.

"We lost the game, six to three," she grumbled, "My teammates were so depressed that they didn't even notice me when they walked by me. I felt like I had let them all down. Like it was all my fault," her gaze remained on the ground, "My mom said I had to be part of the family business. No questions. That's how she is. It's like it's the only thing that's important to her. She doesn't understand," she stared at her Crest now, "That's why I knew he wasn't lying when he said I grew up not knowing what love is." She frowned at the Crest for a moment before she stood up with an angry yell on her lips, pulling her arm back to throw away the pendant.

"Sora, stop it!" Tai yelled, catching her arm before she could throw it.

"Let go!" She ordered, but he wouldn't comply.

"Even if what you said is true, you shouldn't believe a word from that loser, Demidevimon!" he told her outright, "He's just a creep that's trying to hurt you!"

Tears began to gather in the girls eyes, and she was whimpering sadly. Finally, the emotional weight was too much and she let it out in a loud wailing cry.

"Wait. Wait!" Tai panicked, "Don't cry, Sora. Matt," he turned to the other boy, "What do I do? Lucy? Anybody? I don't know what to do with her when she starts blubbering."

"Just let her go, Tai," the blonde boy said with his arms crossed and looking away from the crying girl, "She'll be okay."

Lucy moved forward. Finally, she knew what she could do to make Sora feel at least a little better. Her mom may not care, but Lucy certainly did, and she knew Biyomon was with her.

"Come on, Biyomon," the pink haired girl said to Sora's partner. Together the two of them hugged the girl. Sora, clutched them, needing something to hang onto for her moment of weakness. She needed to feel, if not loved, then at least liked.

After a few moments, she pulled out of the embrace from the human girl and the bird digimon.

"Are you going to be okay?" Lucy asked her.

"I," she paused to wipe the last traces of tears away from her face, "I hope I will be."

"Sora," TK said as he came over to the still distraught girl, "I forgot to thank you."

She looked at him questioningly, "Huh?"

"You told us not to eat the mushrooms, didn't ya?" he explained, "I want to thank you for saving us."

"Right, TK," Biyomon told him, "We thought Demidevimon was up to no good, so we kept out of sight and made sure you guys stayed out of trouble. We were even there when you were working in the restaurant, Matt," the digimon told the blonde boy.

"Huh?" he looked at her surprised.

"That bad little digimon had removed a brick from the plank holding the tomatoes to try and make Joe drop them. But we put it back when he wasn't looking," she explained.

"I had no idea," he said softly.

"You didn't have to hide from us," Tai told the girl, "We were all worried."

"Sora just needed to be alone for a little while," Biyomon said to the wild haired boy, "But she really didn't want to be separated from you guys. Please understand."

Lucy nodded to the bird before turning to the older girl. She was still looking at the ground sadly.

"Sora," TK said, "I like you. So please don't go away again. I don't like being away from you," he smiled at her brightly, "When you're around, I don't miss my mom as much."

"TK," she breathed, tears gathering in her eyes again when she felt a tug on her hand.

"Yeah, please don't leave," Lucy said, holding the older girl's hand in her own, "I never had any siblings. But if I ever had a big sister, I wish she could be like you."

"Lucy," she said the shorter girl's name softly now, her emotions rumbling beneath the surface of her eyes, "You guys... I'm," she hiccuped and wiped her eyes again, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Hey!" Joe's voice called as he, Mimi, Izzy and their digimon finally caught up.

"Hey!" Tai called back, waving, "What took you guys so long?"

"Well," Mimi began as they came to a halt in front of the other five, "We would have been here sooner, but Joe fell in the river."

"Hey, Mimi, you're the one who was hungry and tired and had to sit down every five minutes," he replied.

Unnoticed, in the foliage off to the side of the path, Demidevimon was watching the whole scene from the beginning.

"Perfect! Now that they're all together I must tell Myotismon!" He grinned evilly.

+-9

Late that night, off in a mountain with a stone mansion on top, a part of it opened up to reveal a giant demon looking digimon with four red eyes. It was pulling a carriage driven by a phantom with grey robs and a red hood. The demon roared loudly as it carried the cart through the skies.

Meanwhile, back in the forest with the Digidestined, they had started a fire, eaten a meal and were all currently asleep.

"Sound asleep," Demidevimon grinned as he summoned a huge hypodermic needle to his right talon. It had red eyes and a sharp toothed smile drawn on the cylinder and he carefully approached Sora as she slept. "Myotismon will be so proud of my work, maybe I'll get a promotion!"

Just as he was getting in to range, Biyomon's sensitive hearing picked up the sound of his flapping wings. She gasped and dived over Sora just as Demidevimon announced his attack.

"_Demi Dart!_"

It flew incredibly quick for being such an awkward throw, and it slammed into Biyomon's side, the plunger on the needle going down automatically. Sora woke up when she heard her partner cry in pain.

"Biyomon!" she cried out, removing the huge needle from the whimpering digimon's side, "No, Biyomon! Please wake up! Biyomon!"

"Sora, I will protect you," the pink bird digimon said weakly.

Sora's cries woke the others. Tai sat up next to her, bleary eyes and wondering what was going on.

"Sora, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Demidevimon!" TK exclaimed, pointing at the menace to society.

Lucy sprang to her feet, Skymomon right behind her and they were about to chase the little jerk down when a rather sudden cloud cover moved in, blocking out the light from the moon and stars.

The darkness it created was no natural occurrence. Anything more than fave or so feet from the fire was shrouded in a pitch black darkness. The children gasped in fear as the looked around.

Luckily, the darkness didn't last long, but when it faded away, the moon was now blood red and the forest was gone, leaving the children in a seemingly random field. And in front of the red moon they could see a demon with four red eyes flying right towards them.

"Hey, what is that?" Tai asked, staring up at it like all the others.

As they watched, it passed over them, seeming to ignore them. They saw that it was pulling a cart and before they could comment further, the cart opened up from the back, and a black coffin with a golden bat insignia fell out of it.

The children could only watch anxiously as the coffin fell to the ground, no idea what would come out of it. Half way down, it popped open and a figure in a black cape with red interior and a high collar floated out and gently down to the ground.

Deep maniacal laughter filled the air as the humanoid figure looked at them, still wrapped up in his cape, "Digidestined, your journey ends here!"

Sora gasped. She recognized that voice.

"That's it!" she exclaimed, pointing at it, "That's the thing Demidevimon was talking to!"

The little bat digimon himself showed up, grinning wickedly, "He's not a thing! He's Lord Myotismon!"

"Myotismon?" Tai questioned.

"It's _Lord_ Myotismon!" Demidevimon yelled back at the wild haired boy angrily.

"These Digidestined are making me feel a little... _Batty_," vampire digimon laughed, then he threw open his cape, showing the rest of his body as he shouted out, "_Grisly Wing!_" hundreds, perhaps thousands of little bats with red eyes and large mouths appeared at his command and streaked towards the children.

Their digimon partners didn't hesitate to act.

"C'mon, guys, let's go!" Agumon rallied them, "_Pepper Breath!"_

"_Blue blaster!_" Gabumon called as he breathed the signature blue fire.

Motimon quickly Digivolved to Tentomon and added his own efforts to the mix, "_Super Shocker!_" The electric jolt joined the twin fire attacks, but the digimon weren't done yet.

"_Boom Bubble!_"

"_Whirlwind Fist!_"

Adding their air based attacks to the onslaught, turning the two fire and one electrical attacks into a wall of fire that the bats couldn't cross. For a moment.

Myotismon laughed at their futile play to save themselves and simply added more bats to the swarm till it over came the wall of fire, some of the bats flying over towards the children and biting at them viciously.

"Mimi!" Palmon yelled before taking in the energy to become Togemon.

The cactus digimon ran into the swarm of bats, "Let me try to get my _point_ across!" She spun in place so fast it looked like her gloves were a red ring around her form, "_Needle Spray!_" Thousands and thousands of needles shot into the bats, knocking them all out of the air.

The poor digimon that had been maintaining the fire wall were all but out cold, their energy sapped from them by the constant use of their attacks.

"Way to go!" Gomamon cheered, stepping up to plate next and becoming Ikkakumon. He growled threateningly at the vampire in the middle of the grassy field and fired off his attack, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Six of the rocket propelled horns launched into the sky, shedding the outer shell at their peak and dropping down on the vampire to explode massively.

"Wow!" Joe exclaimed, "Way to go!"

The cloud of dust the explosions kicked up was huge, obscuring their view of what they were sure was a done for vampire. But it was not to be. The form of the evil digimon rose out of the smoke, once more wrapped up in his cape.

"You can't defeat me that easily," he grinned, showing his large fangs, "_Crimson Lightning!_" A red energy whip appeared in his right hand and he lashed it downwards. It knocked Togemon onto her back, and Myotismon laughed evilly as he summoned another whip to his other hand, lashing Ikkakumon and the other digimon before him with his attacks.

"Tai," Agumon groaned from his back, "He's just too strong for us!"

"Now what?" The boy quailed while the rest of the Digidestined looked on at the vampire, fear dawning in their eyes and on their faces.

"I've gotta do something to help them," Biyomon struggled to say from Sora's arms. The bird digimon could barely even stand up on her own, but she needed to protect Sora and the others.

"Huh?" Sora intoned.

"I'm the only one left to fight Myotismon," Biyomon told her partner.

"It's no use," the girl argued, "You can't do anything in your condition."

"Please understand, Sora, I have to go," The bird struggled against the human girls hold, trying to go fight the evil digimon that was slowly approaching the group with a smile on his face.

"No, Biyomon, you can't!" Sora fought against letting the bird go, "You'll get hurt! I wont let you! My decision is final!"

"Sora, why can't you understand?" Biyomon cried. Those words struck something in the girl. This conversation was so very familiar. Her and her mother. They'd had this conversation the day of the soccer game. Her mother didn't want her to go and play soccer, but Sora had to go or she'd let all her friends down. But... her mother... she'd said...

'_I always thought my mom was thinking about her flower shop, but she was really worried about me getting hurt..._' she realized.

Biyomon took advantage of her partner's lack of attention to get away from her and Digivolve into Birdramon. She took to the air and flew directly at the evil digimon that was threatening the safety of everyone she cared about.

"_Meteor Wing!_" The dozen or so streaks of fire flashed through the air at Myotismon, but he deflected the fire by shielding himself with his cape.

Once the barrage was finished he pulled his cape to the side and shouted out, "_Crimson Lightning!_" The red energy formed in his right hand and he lashed it forward at the fire bird. It hit her right in the chest, stabbing her almost like a spear.

"Birdramon!" Sora cried, running forward towards her partner as she fell towards the ground from the attack, "No! Bridramon, I love you!" Sora didn't see it as her crest began to brightly glow beneath her shirt.

She did notice it, however, when light shot out of her Digivice, was focused through the Crest of Love, sending the symbol into her partner.

"Birdramon, Digivolve to Garudamon!" Birdramon grew. A lot. And in more than one way. First she grew vertically. Becoming over seventy feet tall, she now towered over all the second level digimon, even Greymon. Her wings became long arms, a red and white helmet appeared on her head, and her talons lengthened and thickened with muscle. Her torso was entirely humanoid, if covered in pink and white feathers. Out of her back, a new pair of wings grew. They were red at the top, yellow towards the bottom. Finally, out of the back of her helmet was a shock of long blonde hair.

When she stood, or hovered as the case may be, before the evil vampire digimon, she glowed with a bright light that hurt his eyes and had him futilely blocking the light with his arm.

"What?" He growled in pain, "Where is that glow coming from?"

Garudamon turned to her partner and leaned down, gathering the girl up in her massive hands. The extremities were so massive that the girl actually had room to run around if she so desired.

"Sora," the digimon's voice boomed, "I can feel your love. It's making me strong!"

"My Crest," Sora cried happily, "It glows."

"Garudamon is the ultimate form of Birdramon," Tentomon began to explain to them, "She commands the sky and protects the earth. Her special attack is a flaming bird called Wing Blade!"

"Gah! Why is now the Crest of Love glows just as I was about to claim victory?" Myotismon clenched his fists in rage.

"I'll protect you, Sora," Garudamon declared, turning a glare on Myotismon. She placed the girl back on the ground next to her friends then stretched out her wings. One pump of those powerful muscles were enough to send her skyward. Once she was in the air hr entire body began to glow with the light of fire and she focused all of her energy into her yellow fists, "_Wing Blade!_" Just as Tentomon described, the attack was a humongous flaming bird. It shrieked it's righteous rage to the sky as it rocketed toward the evil vampire digimon.

"_Grisly Wing!_" He sent a swarm of bats to intercept the fiery attack, "I hadn't anticipated them being so strong," he growled as he struggled to keep that attack from actually hitting him. The energy from the two attacks glowed green in the middle until the light was bright enough to obscure the evil digimon.

At the same time, Garudamon kneeled before the children and their partners, holding her hands open for them, "C'mon everyone, climb on." The children didn't waste a second.

By the time the light faded and Myotismon could see again, Garudamon was already flying away at great speed.

"Eh? Next time you will not escape!" he roared after them.

The digimon did not stop to banter more with him, only making sure to get all of her charges away from the evil vampire.

+-9

Garudamon flew until the sun came up. Luckily, the children had slept for most of the night before Myotismon and Demidevimon attacked. The giant digimon landed at the edge of a lake near a mountain and set them down before she reverted to her Yokomon form.

"All you had to do was stop worrying about it, Sora, and your Crest began to work!" Tai grinned at her.

"When Biyomon was in danger of getting hurt, I realized that I was acting just like my mom," Sora admitted as she sat by the lake, "Know what I realize? My mom loved me all along." Her smile couldn't have been brighter if she tried.

"And it was your love that helped me Digivolve, Sora," Yokomon told the girl.

Lucy was smiling happily for the girl and her partner. Honestly, at first, the demands of Sora's mother had sounded cruel. But she could see how it was that the woman was just looking out for her daughter's best interests.

"I'm glad," Sora said back to Yokomon, her smile still not fading.

"You see, you are capable of love after all," The little pink digimon with a blue flower on it's head told the red headed girl.

Tai, who the entire time looked like he was bubbling with energy, said, "I felt something! I guess it was your love shining through!"

"I felt something, too," Joe said next, "It made me feel uncomfortable."

"Love shouldn't make you feel like that," TK insisted.

"That's right, TK!" Mimi agreed as she came over to the boy with something cupped in her hands, "I know why you felt uncomfortable, Joe."

"Why?" he asked, desperate to know that he actually didn't feel that discomfort because of the feeling of love.

"These were in your pocket," she dropped large peanuts in his hands.

"I guess it wasn't love," he sighed getting form of the younger kids to laugh. In the background, Matt was playing his harmonica rather skillfully, it was filling the air with a peaceful ambiance that matched the childrens' good mood.

For a little while everything was just... perfect. The kids sat by the lake, and there was talk of camping out there.

The only thing that could possibly stop them would probably have to be a giant dark cloud coming over the horizon that sounded like it was made of thousands of bats with Myotismon's dark laughter filling the air.

Yeah. That oughta do it for ruining their day.

"You foolish Digidestined!" Myotismon spoke from somewhere within the massive dark cloud, "The Eight of you are no match for my powers! Prepare for your ultimate destruction!" His laughter filled the air again, the kids and their digimon unable to pinpoint the origin.

Chapter Twenty Three: End

Please Enjoy.


	24. Chapter 24 The Gateway to Home

Chapter Twenty Four: The Gateway to Home

They escaped. It was not a fun or easy run. Yokomon was unable to turn into Garudamon again to facilitate their escape, so it was up to the other digimon. With a minimum of food at their disposal and somewhat less sleep than they would have liked, SkyYetimon, Kabuterimon and Garurumon carried the kids away from the storm that was Myotismon. It wasn't an entirely comfortable ride.

Sora and Yokomon rode with Lucy in the grasp of SkyYetimon. Joe, TK, their digimon and Matt rode on Garurumon and that left Mimi, Tai, their digimon and Izzy to ride on Kabuterimon. With the space so lacking, the kids were forced to endure the cramped quarters or be left behind to the not so tender mercies of the evil digimon out for their hides.

By the time they stopped running and Myotismon stopped chasing it was already past midday. Despite the uncomfortable ride, no one was in the mood to go back to sleep.

"Right then," Lucy said as SkyYetimon set her and Sora down, "What now?"

"I... don't know," Tai began strong, but trailed off into uncertainty, "That guy was so strong. He took the best Garudamon had to give him and came out the other side fresh as a daisy. I don't think even Etemon was that strong."

"We need a plan to face him," Sora said, "We've got to find his weak point."

"If he's got any," Matt said with crossed arms.

"Where are you going, Joe?" Gomamon asked as his partner began to walk away.

"I saw a stream a little ways back, I think it would be a good idea to refill out water bottles," he told Gomamon, but loud enough for the others to hear.

"Hold on, Joe, we shouldn't go anywhere alone," Sora said.

"That's a good idea, Sora," Tai grinned at her, "So I'll go with Joe to get some water. Anyone else want to come along?"

"I'll go," Mimi volunteered.

"Really?" Tai asked, surprised.

"Sure, I'll help out as long as I don't have to get in the water," the girl smiled happily at the two boys as they and their digimon walked back towards the stream.

"Hey, Matt," TK tugged on his older brother's arms, "I'm hungry."

"Me too," Patamon said, sitting up on his hind legs.

"Foraging it is, then," the older boy said.

"I'll go with you two," Sora offered, "Lucy, Izzy, you two stay here," the girl said to the two ten year olds.

"Right," Lucy nodded.

"I'm unsure if it would be beneficial to start a camp fire while we are being so doggedly pursued," Izzy told the group going to get food, "So, I would suggests only fruits and berries. Foods that require no cooking."

"Got it," Matt said as he headed off with TK, Sora, Yokomon, Patamon and Gabumon to find some grub.

Lucy sat down on the ground with Skymomon curled up on her lap. As usual, the little monkey started on a nap the moment there was nothing to do. Izzy, as usual, pulled out his lap top in any free moment he came across and was currently going over the data that he'd uncovered from the world they'd been brought to.

"Find anything interesting?" Lucy asked after a few minutes.

"Nothing I haven't deduced before, but I think I'm coming close to a major breakthrough," Izzy said with Tentomon sitting on his right, "You see, I've realized that, if we can sent ourselves to any known email address on the internet and physically move to that location in this world, maybe there is a way to send us home with the same phenomena. If I can figure out the right code input that would equal the human world, I can create a doorway, in theory, that should be able to take us home. And not only that, but to any place in the world with an internet connection!" You could tell he was beginning to get excited about the things he might be able to do simply from the sound of the keys on his keyboard being pushed to their limits, trying to keep up with his super fast typing.

"Are you sure that's even possible?" Lucy asked, shifting a little closer to look at the boy's computer screen, "It sounds horribly complicated to me."

"It is," Izzy nodded, "If it was as simple as sending us to the pyramid, I promise you, I would have done it already. But I know it is possible. This world is an entirely digital construct. The molecules and atoms, at their core, are simple zeroes and ones, the base language of any program. All we'd have to do, and this will sound much more simple than the actual process, is find a weak point in the barrier between the human world and the Digiworld, connect our signal to a terminal there and send our data there," he looked over his shoulder at the girl that was staring at the screen on his computer, "The reaction in the human world would most likely be a surge in power as our data is transformed back into organic matter. A few bright lights and a higher electrical bill, but that is small price to pay for a return trip to our world."

"My, my," a familiar, aged voice filled the air, "you really are quite the prodigal child, Izzy."

"Gennai!" Izzy and Lucy gasped, turning to look at another hologram of their mysterious benefactor.

"Hello again," he smiled, "It is a relief to see you in good health, if not perfectly safe."

"You as well, Gennai," Izzy told the old man, "Has there been a new development?"

"Yes," he nodded, "There has, a very important one. If the others are available, I would like it if you could bring them here so that I may tell all of you at once."

Izzy and Lucy looked at each other and nodded. The boy took Tentomon and went to fetch those by the stream while the girl went with Skymomon to find those out foraging.

"Wait right here, ya old coot," Lucy said, "I've some serious questions for you."

The man just chuckled at her attitude as she ran off into the forest. It was really so interesting to talk to these youngsters.

Lucy found Sora, Matt and TK not that far at all in the forest.

"Lucy," Sora greeted her, "Where's Izzy, did something happen?"

"Izzy's fine," she said, "But Gennai showed up. He says he's got something important to tell us."

"Huh?" Matt intoned, "What is it? Did he give any clues?"

"Not a one," the pink haired girl grunted, "He's being his usual mysterious self."

"That figures. I suppose we should go see what he has to say, though," the boy sighed, "He might actually reveal something important for once, if we listen to him."

With that, the four kids and their partners made it back to the meeting spot just in time to see Tai and the others approaching as well. They waved briefly as they all moved to stand around the hologram of the old man in the black clothing.

"Hello, all of you," the old man greeted, standing with his hands behind his back as usual.

"Hey, Gennai," Tai said, "Don't keep us in suspense. What is this all about anyways?"

"I have very important news for you, both good and bad," he told them, "But first, Lucy."

The girl stepped forward, looking up at the floating man, "You know what I want to ask?"

"I do," he nodded, "but I am afraid we have not the time for this. Myotismon is moving and, as much as I would like to discuss the tale of your origins, we have precious little time to spare. I hope that you will forgive me for asking you to wait a little while longer."

Lucy sighed deeply, but nodded. She'd waited ten years to know anything about her parents, she could wait just a little bit longer.

"Very well," Gennai said, "I promise you, when the situation has been resolved, we will have a long discussion at the earliest convenience. Now, to the matter at hand," he spoke to the whole group now, "There is good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"

"Save the good news for last," Joe suggested, "I hate being depressed."

"He' a basket case, anyway," Matt said, pointing at the older boy with his thumb, "Let's start with the good news."

"Actually, you all look like you could use some cheering up," Gennai told them, "I've been told another child will be joining your group."

"Another child?" Sora asked, "Who tells you these things, anyway?"

"Well, this is someone you shall want as a friend. This someone is a Digidestined," he dropped on them.

"Whoa," Mimi breathed.

"Really?" Joe asked at the same time.

Various other mumblings came through, but it was Yokomon who spoke clearly to start with.

"Oh, I hope this new one will have a digimon that will be able to help us," she said with wide eyes full of optimism.

"You and me both," Sora agreed with her partner.

"The important thing to remember is that all nine of you must be together," Gennai started again, "As long as you are separated, the worlds will not be in harmony with each other. Everything will go wacko, so we must find that other child as soon as possible."

"How do we do that?" Tai asked, Sora nodding at his question.

"I hope it's someone my size," TK said with a smile.

"I hope she's my size," Mimi squealed, already thinking about it with her hands clasped before her, "So, we can swap clothes."

"Tell us something about this kid," Tai demanded of the old man, "Like, what's his or her name?"

"Eh, the name?" Gennai queried and Lucy could already hear another denial of information.

"Yeah," the wild haired boy nodded and everyone else looked to the old man for that vital clue as well.

"Eh, it's..." he paused and the whole group minus Lucy leaned forward in suspense, "I forgot." The group, again minus Lucy who was holding a hand to her face and shaking her head, had to flail their arms wildly to keep from face planting at such a major let down.

"Gennai!" Tai whined on the groups behalf.

"Calm down," the old man advised, "I do know the location of the child. It's Japan."

"Huh?" Matt hummed.

"Japan?" Tai asked.

"Where is Japan?" Gabumon asked, curious.

"Japan's a big island in the far east," Agumon told his fellow digimon.

"Agumon and Tai were transported there when our two worlds converged," Izzy explained getting a hum of ascent from the yellow dinosaur.

"If they ever converge again, maybe we'll all get to go home," Joe hoped.

"Yeah," Mimi sighed.

"Remember," Gennai spoke up again, "that was the good news."

"Can't wait to hear the bad," Tai said sarcastically.

"Myotismon has heard of the Ninth Child and will be going to Japan, soon," he informed them, lacking any joviality, "He's gathering his forces as we speak. If he gets to the child first, both of our worlds will be doomed."

"Doomed?" the wild haired boy frowned, "We need some spies on the inside."

"Gennai," Lucy finally spoke up, getting over the fact that she wouldn't be able to get to know about her parents for a while longer, "You said that he was gathering his forces. I can only assume that means bad digimon?"

"Indeed," the old man nodded, "The best, and worst, of the worst digimon around the continent have heeded his call. They are all eager to reach the human world and cause some grade A havoc."

"Then maybe we can disguise a couple of our digimon and send them in to infiltrate the base," Tai said with a grin.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Lucy said.

"Okay, but who should we send?" Sora asked.

"It would be best to send a small team for this insurgence," Izzy suggested, "If we send them all in, then that would leave us defenseless, but only one and the same is true for the digimon we send in. I would recommend Agumon and Palmon."

"I guess that makes sense," Matt said, nodding, "But why those two?"

"Simple," the boy said, "Agumon is one of our best fighters. If they get in trouble inside of Myotismon's base of operations, he should be able to stall the enemy long enough for the two of them to get back to us. Palmon is ideal for infiltration with the use of her Poison Ivy. The vines could be used to bring the rest of us into the castle after you are successfully inside."

"I can't really disagree with that," Sora said, "but it doesn't feel right, sending them into the bat's nest."

"It's our only chance, Sora," Tai said strongly, "Are you ready for this, Agumon?"

"You bet!" The little dinosaur exclaimed, "Let me at 'em."

"Palmon, I want you to be extra careful in there, okay," Mimi said, worry tinging her tone.

"Don't worry, Mimi," the plant digimon smiled, "I'll be alright."

"We're gonna need to rig the two of you up with some disguises, too," Lucy added, looking them over, before a grin came over her face, "Mimi, it's time to see how good you are with making bad hair."

"Huh?"

+-9

Atop a mountain in the main courtyard entrance of a grey stone castle, Demidevimon stood before a group of Numemon, Veggiemon and yellow, sludge shaped digimon called sukamon. The motley crew of digimon were there to join the seizure of the human world. Well, that and the food.

"Ah," Demidevimon sighed, "the noodle brainer team." This was not what he was hoping to get when he went recruiting for the 'worst of the worst the continent had offer.'

"Don't worry," the little bat digimon turned around to see who was talking, "I'll whip 'em all into shape. These dweebs will all be unbeatable when I get through with them." The digimon that came down the stairs to start training the others was a flesh colored ball with arms and legs. No, he wasn't fat. He was literally a ball with arms and legs. He had a single follicle of hair on the very top of his head, bushy black eyebrows and beard with a strip of hair going around his head somewhere near his equator. His arms and legs were well muscled and he was wearing red, leather gloves and boots. He didn't have a nose, but he did have thick, red lips and a pair of dark sunglasses hid his eyes.

"This is Nanimon," Demidevimon introduced the ball digimon, "He's an invader digimon. You're gonna listen to him, got it?"

"Yes, sir!" The group of digimon before them shouted.

"Okay, big boy," the bat digimon turned to the huge ball creature, "We know that you can talk the talk, but now it's time for you to do your stuff."

"Just watch," Nanimon told him.

"I don't wanna," Demidevimon said, turning and leaving. As he was leaving, another couple of digimon stepped into the courtyard.

"Can I help you two?" the invader digimon asked aggressively.

"Yeah," said the first of them, "we're a couple of renegade soldiers looking for a battle to fight." Palmon stood with her paws on her hips. The flower on her head was hidden underneath a mass of dreadlocks, and she had a couple necklaces on.

"We may look silly," said the second, "But underneath our cool exterior, we're fighting machines." It was Agumon. On his head was a horrible mess of blonde, curly hair and he was wearing a red bandanna around his neck.

"Is that so?" Nanimon said, unimpressed, "Who are ya?"

"I'm PunkAgumon," the yellow dinosaur lifted his left claw into the air.

"I'm ReggaePalmon," the plant digimon said with a wink before the two of them struck a pose.

"What a couple of weirdos," the drill instructor digimon said to himself as he looked at the two of them, "You're perfect! I'll take ya!"

Agumon and Palmon grinned as they made their way over to the other digimon waiting to be trained by Nanimon.

+-9

Inside the castle, deep inside the office, Myotismon sat, going over the words in a tome. The information was invaluable in its worth. These tomes were where he learned of the destined Ninth Child. While his minions had gathered strength, or fouled up his plans in the case of Demidevimon, he had studied extensively.

That the eight children in this world had activated the power of their crests, one after another, was unfortunate, but all was not lost. The Ninth Child was, more likely than not, oblivious to their destiny. All he had to do was find them and destroy them and then the fate of both worlds would be in his hands. And he would savor that power.

A knock came to the door of his office.

"Come in," he ordered.

The double doors creaked open and Demidevimon stepped in, "Myotismon, I have some good news to report. The soldiers are assembled and ready to move out."

"Are they worthy of me?" the vampire digimon didn't even look away from the book he was reading that was revealing the secret of how to reach the human world.

Demidevimon grimaced for a moment. Myotismon was a powerful, elegant digimon. He was evil, without a doubt, but suave and there was class in his every motion. Numemon, Sukamon and Veggiemon... were not.

So he lied, of course, "Yes, my master!"

Immediately, mocking giggles filled the air, followed by a cute, if arrogant, voice, "There a bunch of helpless sea slugs, if you want my opinion."

"Who are you?" Demidevimon demanded, looking around for the source of the voice.

A figure stepped out of the shadows, a grin on her feline face, "Greetings, little blue one."

The bat digimon whirled around in time to see another digimon of equal size, though much greater power, step into the light, "Gatomon!"

Gatomon was a cat digimon. She looked like a white cat had decided to stand up on its hind legs. She had little tufts of dark purple fur coming off the tips of her large ears and the end of her tail. Also on her tail was a golden ring and on her fore paws were a pair of gauntlets. They were very light green with orange stripes and each one had three, sharp black claws. Her eyes were large and sky blue and she had a constant smile that made her seem like an innocent kitten.

"Just where did you manage to find that group of goofballs, anyway?" the cat digimon asked arrogantly.

Demidevimon growled angrily, glaring at her, "You could do better?"

Gatomon's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward with her paws on her hips, "With both paws tied!"

"Gatomon, don't waste your time on him!" Myotismon ordered, reminding them both that he was there, "Have you done what I've asked of you?"

The cat smiled again, walking forward, around the bat digimon, "Yes, purr your instructions, I have looked everywhere and found the most ferocious digimon I could find. You'll be very pleased." She bowed elegantly as she spoke, taking a knee before her master.

"I knew I could trust you, Gatomon," the vampire said as he stood from his desk, "I look forward to meeting them."

"Thanks," she bowed her head in deference again. Behind her, the little winged digimon was growling angrily, obviously jealous of her preferential treatment. So what if she was a lot more successful and way more powerful and a lot smoother than he was, he was the one who had been there since the beginning. He was the one who had to cow tow to that idiot, Etemon, for years so that Myotismon could keep track of the wannabe rocker. He was the one who should be given the important misions.

Before he could try to insult the cat and make himself appear more impressive in the eye of his master, a ghost digimon came through the wall. It had a large mouth with sharp teeth, white eyes with black sclera and a white sheet covering its body. This was Bakemon.

"What is it?" Myotismon asked the digimon with his arms crossed. He was getting a little annoyed with all these interruptions.

"We've prepared the room and it's ready for your inspection," the ghost told Myotismon.

"Fine," he turned to Gatomon and Demidevimon, "The two of you are dismissed."

"Right," the two said, quickly leaving the office. The door closed behind them.

Once they were gone, the vampire digimon moved to the book case to his left. He used a panel with two levers meeting in the middle to open a secret passage behind the two bookshelves. They opened up to reveal stairs leading downward, deep into the mountain. At the base of the vast stair way was a chamber filled with Bakemon, all eagerly scrubbing the floors and walls one final time. The dark chamber was decorated with five stone pillars with snakes carved into them, a pedestal with odd markings on it and slots for things that might be cards, four statues of four eyes demons and a set of huge double doors. They were so large, in fact of point, that Metalgreymon and Garudamon wouldn't even have to duck to pass through it.

Seeing their master approach, the Bakemon quickly parted before him.

The evil digimon laughed maniacally as he approached the pedestal. He examined it with a cruel smirk.

The Bakemon that had escorted him down there floated in the air next to him, "If you don't mind my asking, sir, what is this room for?"

"Legends tell of this hallowed gate," Myotismon explained, "It is the passage way that will take us forward, to the other world," he through out his arms dramatically, "When we pass through this portal, we'll be free to infiltrate the human realm!"

+-9

The children were hiding out, right beside the castle, near an open window. They were waiting for Palmon to lower her vines and let them in. Gennai was broadcasting again, as well.

"According to my information, the gate to the other world should be somewhere inside this castle," he explained to the group.

"My theory is Myotismon sent Demidevimon while he prepared the gate," Izzy explained, "Truly a genius plan, on his part."

"It's a good theory, indeed," Gennai praised the young computer genius.

Tai didn't seem very interested in the conversation currently going on though. He was staring off in the direction that they'd sent Agumon and Palmon, a somewhat worried look on his face.

"Agumon and Palmon have certainly been gone a long time," he said, "It' not that I'm worried, it's just that...well, I hope they're looking for the location of the gate."

+-9

In the courtyard, under Nanimon's orders, the digimon under his command were doing pushups. It was especially hard for the Numemon to live up to the standards of the meatball, what with not having any definable arms or legs.

"I'm," Palmon panted from next to Agumon, "wilting. I wanna, get out of here, now!" She wasn't the only one sweating rather profusely. The other digimon looked to be feeling the strain.

Agumon, however, only looked annoyed. He didn't mean to brag, but his arms were really strong. He could do this all day.

"Now!" Nanimon yelled, "Hop like Bunnymon!"

That was a little harder for the yellow dinosaur. But they followed the orders anyway. They had to or they'd never make it into the castle to find the gate to the human world. The others were counting on them and they couldn't let them down. Even if it meant going through this humiliating training.

"Get the jelly out of your legs!" the meatball kept up the yelling, "I want you grunts to be tough! His battle's gonna be big, so get with it, you worthless warts! You got it? Sweat like you've never sweat before!"

One of the Numemon in the middle of the pack grunted as he hopped about, "I never _have_ sweat before!"

"We're starting to now!" another cried, his tongue hanging out of hi mouth.

"Listen up! Everybody who mouthed off will go without dinner tonight!" Nanimon informed them, "You do understand me, don't you!?" he was swinging around a stick, swishing it through the air every time he yelled at the group of digimon.

"Wait!" one Numemon in the lead said, stopping. Doing so caused a massive pile up, with him at the bottom, but he still managed to complete his thought. "The warm meal is the only reason I joined this dopey army, in the first place!" That got a nearly unanimous agreement from the other digimon in the pile up.

Some time later, after the sun had set, Nanimon had a couple of the Veggiemon massaging his upper arms while his troops rested from their grueling training. He hummed to himself in disappointment as he stared at the hodgepodge of digimon resting before him. They were pouring sweat off their bodies. Even Agumon.

"I'd like to soak in a hot tub for about two months," Palmon sighed.

"I've got blisters on my blisters," Agumon complained.

One of the Sukamon turned to the two of them, "I think we have to stop this guy," he then sing songed, "And I know how to do it."

"Yeah?" the yellow dinosaur asked.

"I was a soldier with him before," the sludge monster told him, "He likes to drink soda, but the bubbles go right to his head and make him as dipsy as a Doodlemon."

A little pink mouse digimon popped up on the Sukamon's head, "He get's real kooky and he'll do anything you want," the mouse digimon, Chuumon, added.

"You mean he'll let us escape?" Palmon asked, hope shining in her green eyes.

"I must be exhausted," Agumon said.

"Why?" the plant digimon asked him.

"I thought I saw a pink thing pop up and talk to us," he told her.

"His stomach will fill with bubbles," Sukamon continued, unhindered.

"Yeah," Chuumon added, "He's sure to explode!"

"But if he explodes, wont he make us hang around and clean it up?" The yellow dinosaur asked.

"You're nutsy," Palmon told him.

"Forget the mess, we can all escape!" a Numemon exclaimed.

Another nodded, "Someone should go and get some soda. He wont miss one of us."

"That might work," Palmon nodded.

"After that meatball wouldn't let us have dinner, I'll open the bottles and pour 'em down his throat myself," another Numemon volunteered. He moved off to the side, out of the view of Nanimon. He slithered up a tower where he knew they kept the drinks. It was kind of odd watching the little slug move towards the window.

But the rest of the digimon's attention was taken away from that when the invader digimon stood before them, his muscles bulging.

"Next up! Contact sports! How about wrestling?" He held up one gloved hand with a grin on his face.

"Yeah!" The whole group of digimon agreed.

As that was happening, the Numemon quickly located the soda bottles. There were nearly thirty of them. He grinned wickedly as he took the bottles and rigged up little parachutes for them. He tossed a bottle out the window, jut as Nanimon finished thrashing the last of his would be soldiers.

"You guys are so pathetic!" he roared at them, "Don't tell me you're all tired!" they just groaned in exhaustion and pain, "You're a worthless pack of goons!" he would have gone on, but the bottle floating down towards him took his attention, "What? What in the world?" he reached up and grabbed the bottle, he grinned as he realized what it was, "Oh boy! Me likes orange!" He pulled off the cap and began guzzling it down. Before he even finished it, another one floated down, then more. And more. And more and more and more! It was a storm of soda bottles.

Before long, Nanimon's skin began to turn as red as his lips and he started swaying about and acting silly. The digimon watched in awe as the meatball digimon drank the mass of soda that was sent down to him. He was seriously gonna have to go to the bathroom later.

After a surprisingly small belch, Nanimon turned to the digimon under his command, opened his mouth, and belted out a kind of manic laughter.

"Hey! Anybody wanna go dancin'? I'm light on my feet!" He began dancing wildly, waving his arms about and swaying back and forth.

"Go! Go! Go!" The digimon chanted.

Nanimon kept dancing, laughing as he kept up the dancing, "Wow! I love that soda!" He exclaimed before he finally fell over backwards, passed out and snoring like a log.

"It worked!" Agumon proclaimed, earning a unanimous 'yay' from the others, "Let's get out of here!"

"Before he wakes up!" Palmon agreed.

The two of them ran into the castle followed by their fellow soldiers. Where they split off was when the others went to the kitchens to catch a late dinner while Agumon and Palmon went to go find the open window they could see their friends from so they could climb up the plant digimon's vines.

+-9

"I'm worried," Tai finally admitted as the sun was behind the horizon now. They had been waiting for hours. Something must have gone wrong.

"Just be patient," Matt told him.

And then, not a second later, a familiar set of vines fell from a window.

"Hey, look!" Mimi exclaimed, "They're back!"

"Sorry," Palmon called down to them, "We had a big bruiser on our hands."

"Let's go!" Tai said, leading the charge.

"My signal is useless inside the castle, so you're on your own," Gennai told them, "I'm counting on you."

"We've got it covered," the wild haired boy assured him as they began to climb up into the castle.

"I hope so," the old man said, "You must stop Myotismon from carrying out his plans and protect your friend in Japan!"

"We better move it!" Palmon said, wrapping her vines around two children or digimon at a time and pulling them up.

+-9

In his office once more, Myotismon was staring intently at a set of cards before him. The backs of them were all exactly the same, but the fronts were pictures of different digimon.

"I must figure out the secret to the gate," he said aloud to himself, "Once I understand the meaning of these cards, the key will open the lock. Then I will be able to enter the path to the human world," he stood up with a smirk on his face, "You Digidestined think you're so smart, but in reality I am always one step ahead of you!" He laughed devilishly, looking at the cards before him again. After reading the tomes he'd gathered, the puzzle was simple to solve.

+-9

Once you got past the main entrance way, the interior of the Castle was mind bending in it's confusing pathways. It was like walking in one of those weird drawings where the stairs went every direction imaginable and some that most people wouldn't even consider.

Lucy was getting dizzy just looking at it.

She had opted to go with Izzy and Tai, but the paths were so numerous that the group ended up splitting up even further.

"Are you okay, Lucy? You look a little green," Skymomon told her partner.

"I feel nauseous," the little girl admitted, holding her stomach, "I can't look up, down, or even side to side without my center of balance going haywire on me. It's like spinning around until your sick, minus the spinning." They'd been at this for the better part of an hour and they still hadn't even found a clue as to where they could find the gate.

"Hey!" Tai's voice echoed through the area, "Everybody come here!"

Lucy took a deep breath to try to settle her stomach, "Let's get back to Tai, Skymomon. Hopefully he found a way out of this mess."

"Yeah," The little monkey nodded.

As it would turn out. Tai hadn't found anything and neither had any of the others. Although, Matt and TK told of the torch they found that was burning upside down. That was interesting to see.

"My theory is Myotismon set up these optical illusions to deter us from finding the gate," Izzy said.

"Well, it's working," Tai complained, "We're just as lost as we were when we started!"

"And far more nauseous," Lucy groaned as she sat crouched, holding her knees to her chest with sora rubbing her back to comfort her.

"Huh?" Gomamon turned away from the conversation as it went on.

"What is it?" Joe asked when he noticed the little seal not paying attention.

"Someone's coming!" he told them.

"You sure?" the blue haired boy asked.

"You doubt me?" the little seal asked, pointing across the way. The kids and digimon could see the silhouettes of several large digimon moving along one of the upside down bridges. They were laughing and joking about going to the human world and causing some real trouble.

"They seem to know where they're going," Matt whispered.

"Maybe we should follow them," Sora suggested.

"They'll lead us to the right place," Tai nodded.

The kids moved forward stealthily. It wasn't too long at all before they were out of the wickedly messed up room with the problems with garvity.

Lucy breathed a thankful sigh of relief.

By the time they caught up to the weird digimon that Myotismon had gathered, the gate was already wide open and the evil digimon himself was about to leave, climbing into his carriage when the kids stormed down the stairs, into the gate room.

"You're not going anywhere!" Tai yelled as the shadowed digimon walked through the gate, "Not if we can help it!" He was followed by the rest of the children, all of them ready for the major fight this was going to be.

"What is your name?" Myotismon said, pretending not to know them, "Do you work for me? Can't you see I'm busy at the moment?"

"Yeah, right!" Tai snarked.

"Demidevimon, would you take care of this annoying gang of hoodlums? I have better things to do," The vampire turned away from the children, climbing into his carriage as the little blue winged digimon bowed to his master.

"You heard him!" Demidevimon yelled to Nanimon and his subordinates, "Line up and fight! Destroy those annoying brats!"

The Numemon, Sukamon and Veggiemon all lined up before the children, Nanimon at the back of the group, shouting at them as usual, "Alright, you maggots! This is what we've trained for! Get 'em!"

Before any of the digimon in front of them could move, the digimon partners of the children began to Digivolve, one after the other, Leaving out only Yokomon, who still didn't have the energy, and Patamon who stayed right near TK.

Faced with the combined forces of SkyYetimon, Togemon, Kabuterimon, Greymon, Ikkakumon and Garurumon, the forces of digimon under Nanimon's leadership... ran for the hills.

"Hey!" Demidevimon shouted as they ran, "You cowards! You don't even deserve to be in this army! Grah!" he turned to the invader digimon now, who was still standing there, seeming unimpressed with the forces arrayed against him, "It's all up to you, Nanimon!"

"Right!" He nodded, and clenched his fists for a moment, causing his knuckles to pop before he pulled a white flag from who knows where and held it up before the children and their massive partners, "Any of you need a wrestling coach?"

"Wha? Hey!" the little bat digimon yelled, "You can't quit!"

"You wanna bet, pipsqueak? When it comes to fanny kicked, I'm out of here. And if you don't believe me, look at my contract!" With that, the meatball turned and ran, leaving a pile of pink sludge behind as the only hint he was ever there.

"You might as well give up," Matt said from behind the giant digimon.

"I'm outnumbered!" Demidevimon cried, "Good help is so hard to find!"

"Just admit you picked the wrong side and give it a rest already," TK said with a grin while Patamon moved forward. He had a score to settle after all.

"If you think you can intimidate me, it wont work!" Despite this, the little guy was gathering tears of pure fear in the corner of his eyes.

"You haven't dealt with me, yet!" a new voice shouted. Leaping through the air was Gatomon. She jumped up, right in front of Greymon and the rest and, despite her small size, began to lay down a whoopin' on the bigger digimon. Her blow were nowhere near the strength of Etemon, but it still hurt, and her small size afforded her a maneuverability that not even SkyYetimon had.

"Heh! That was too easy," the cat laughed.

"Try this!" Togemon growled as she came up, swinging a fist at the little digimon.

Gatomon just dodged the punch, bounced off of Garurumon's snout, dodged another punch from Togemon and kicked Garurumon in the snout, continuing to bounce back and forth between the two.

"Get to the gate, everybody!" Tai yelled, leading the way by a few steps.

"Oh, no you don't!" The ring on Gatomon's tail began to glow. If that was the worst that happened, the kids would be a lot happier. But no. It was not the only thing that happened. Instead, two of the large statues on the walls began to glow before they came to life. "Devidramon," The cat smirked as she explained these digimon, "He's one nasty dragon guardian of the gate. He doesn't like losing, but if you want a real surprise, look into his eyes, you'll be hypnotized!"

Beasts roared as they came to life, immediately attacking. Were it not for the digimon partners, the Digidestined would know exactly what it felt to be squished by a black demon dragon.

Greymon sent a Nova Blast at one, and that started a barrage of special attacks from the rest. From Howling Blaster, to Tornado Hammer, all of the attacks were dodged by the quick moving Devidramon. It seemed like nothing could hit these monsters, almost like they were mist.

And then they started fight back, to great effect. Their claws glowed red, and they didn't announce their attacks, but they moved in on the kids' digimon partners. They lashed and slashed, knocking Kabuterimon and Ikkakumon to the ground.

"Ha! How's that for a winning shot! We've got you brats on the ropes!" Demidevimon gloated.

"You haven't won yet!" Togemon shouted just as SkyYetimon darted past her. The winged yeti body slammed one of the black dragons into the wall.

"_Needle Spray!_"

"_Nova Blast!_"

"_Howling Blaster!_"

The three attacks slammed into the dragon just as their comrade darted away.

As this was happening, Demidevimon was trying to get through the gate, which was slowly closing, but Patamon was in the way.

"Move it, ya flyin' bean bag! I'm goin' through!" he ordered the tan digimon.

Patamon's reply was a Boom Bubble to the face, knocking the little bat digimon away from the entrance to the human world.

Back in the main battle, Greymon had just tackled another one of the Devidramon to the ground when it blocked the kids from getting to the gate, and the kids were trying to get there before it closed. The distance from one side of the room to the other was barely a hundred feet, but as it was, they were having to fight for every inch. Each step they had to dodge the black dragons and their own digimon, and Gatomon and Demidevimon weren't exactly helping them either.

They finally got close, seeing Patamon struggling with the bat digimon, trying to keep him from getting into human world, and their hope began to rise. Until Gatomon showed up again. She knocked aside the little digimon and the ring on her tail glowed again. The remaining two statues of Devidramon woke up and started attacking as well.

"Gr!" Tai growled, "Greymon!"

"Greymon, Digivolve to Metalgreymon!" The energy from the Digivice was focused through the crest, just like the last few times, and Greymon grew much larger. He didn't even bother slamming into them or boxing with them a little bit. He just opened up his chest panels and fired off his Giga Blaster, destroying the black dragons.

But it was too little, too late. By the time the smoke cleared, the doors had closed.

"Darn it!" Tai shouted, slamming his fist painfully into the metal of the gates, making his hand hurt and not even causing a resounding clang to satisfy his anger.

"What do we do now?" Koromon asked as he bounced over after he reverted from his Metalgreymon form.

"I don't know, Koromon, I don't know," Tai breathed, "But we have to get back to the human world and stop those creeps. I know that much."

"And we're with you," Lucy said, speaking for the whole group, who nodded a hummed their agreement to the plans for their future, "We'll get back to Japan, save the ninth kid, and then the worlds."

"Right," Tai grinned, "We just need to figure out how to open this gate." He pointed at the huge metal doors over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Right," Joe said, grinning, "And how do we do that?"

Chapter Twenty Four: End

Please Enjoy.


	25. Chapter 25 It's All In The Cards

Chapter Twenty Five: It's All In The Cards

Things had not gone well. Myotismon was in the human world, looking for the Ninth Child. The group had tried their best to make it through the gate right after him, but that brat of a cat, Gatomon, impeded them by summoning the Devidramon to fight for her. The gate closed, the evil digimon got away, and they were left fighting the two remaining black dragons in the gate room.

"We need to get out of here," Matt said.

"And go where?" Tai asked, not angry, just unsure, "This is the gate home."

"Yeah," the blonde boy nodded, "and if you know how to open it then, by all means, go for it. But I'm putting my money on Gennai knowing a way to do it."

"I'll take that action," Lucy said, "Gennai is being unusually forthcoming with info right now. Maybe he's got a line on the problem here."

"That's better than anything I've got," Joe said, agreeing with thee two of them. And the agreements from the rest of the group trickled in.

"Then that's what we do," Tai nodded, "Let's get out of here before more of these things come to life and attack.

+-9

The trip out was a lot shorter than the trip in. For one, they actually knew which way to go. For two, they didn't have to dodge evil digimon the entire way out. As such, with Garurumon and Togemon leading the way, they made it out of the castle without much difficulty.

Once outside, Gennai's hologram popped up again.

"I see things did not go as planned," he sighed.

"No," Lucy said, "Things went perfectly as planned, for Myotismon. He and the digimon he had with him went through the gate into our world and we couldn't even stall 'em."

Gennai sighed again, "Myotismon has shut the gate. You can't follow him now."

"Listen, Pops," Matt began with TK on his back in a piggy back ride, "You've gotta help us get through that gate. The ninth kid is doomed if we don't!"

"And that isn't all!" Sora exclaimed next, "If that rotten creep goes on a rampage in our world, lots of innocent people will get hurt!"

"There just has to be some way we can open the gate up again!" Tai insisted.

"Well, of course there is," Gennai told them.

"No kidding?" The wild haired boy asked with a hopeful smile.

"How then?" Sora asked, also losing some of her own anxiety.

"Any door can be opened with the right key," the old man said.

Lucy bowed suddenly, saying in a bad Chinese accent, "Ah, your wisdom is boundless, Master Wrinkles."

"Oh, don't be so mysterious, Gennai!" Tai said, agreeing with Lucy's sentiment, but not feeling like joking at the moment even though TK and Mimi were giggling at the pink haired girl's attempt.

"Follow me to my house and I will explain everything," he told them.

Lucy looked directly at the old man then, "Everything?" Her question held more weight than just the desire to open the gate to the human world, and everyone could feel it. By now, it was no secret to anyone that she was at home in this strange world.

"Yes," Gennai nodded slowly, "I suppose that we will now have time to discuss it properly, but it will still have to wait until the matter of the gate is taken care of."

"Where is your home?" Koromon asked.

"Look above you," the old man said simply.

"What kind of directions are those?" Mimi asked, confused by what the old man meant. She'd seen the sky and Gennai wasn't there.

"Very good ones, if you will just listen," Gennai said, turning to look at the girl.

Mimi blinked, then tilted her head back to look directly up at the sky. As expected, she didn't see anything. At least, not directly above them. As an odd, chiming sound filled the air, the other kids looked up as well. Patamon even took wing, thinking a higher altitude might help him to see... something.

"Keep looking," the old man encouraged, "You should see it."

Patamon turned in the air, panning his view across the area. Finally, after he turned some ways to the left, he saw it. It was a yellow beam of light, swishing to and fro in the air.

"There!" Matt said, seeing it nearly the same time as the digimon, "A search light!" The others looked in the direction that the older blonde pointed, finding the light easily now that they knew what to look for.

"Sorry, I didn't have anymore maps," Gennai said by way of explanation, "Just follow the light to my home. You can't miss it."

"Excellent!" Tai exclaimed, happy to have some clue about what to do now.

"Snack time for me," the old man said with a smile before his transmission cut out.

"Let's jet!" The wild haired boy said. The group grinned as they started to get to where they needed to go.

On the short trek, Joe and Izzy were walking next to Lucy. Both of them had questions for the girl. Hopefully she could answer.

"Lucy," Izzy began, "Your desire to remain in the digital world still perplexes me. I simply can't fully comprehend it. I would like to gain further insight into that point of view, if you will."

Lucy nodded, then thought carefully about the words she'd use to describe it, "Let me answer your question with a question, Izzy," she looked directly in the boy's eyes, "When you find a bit of code, something new that you've never run into before, what do you do with it?"

"I examine it, of course," the red headed boy told her, "I break it down to its base components until it is more simplified and work my way outward from there. I decipher it's meaning and purpose, then, supposing this is computer code, I use the pieces that would be beneficial for my computer."

"And when you first break that code? When you've just upgraded your computer?" she asked, "Doesn't it feel like it was something you wished you could have had, right from the start?"

"Hmm," the boy placed one gloved hand on his chin, "I suppose that is correct. I tend not to look back on it. Although, it is usually a feeling of mild euphoria and novelty when I first crack a code and install an upgrade."

"Imagine that the euphoria is linked to where you are," Lucy told him, "That's how I feel. It isn't always great here. I could really do without the evil digimon always rockin' the boat. But I can feel it, constantly, right here," he held her hand over her chest, "this is my home. I belong in this world."

"You know," Joe cut in, "that bring me to my question. What are you hoping to find out from Gennai? You already know you belong here, right? So, what else is there to know?"

"I know who I am," she said firmly, more for herself than the older boy, "I am Lucy Angelica Suzumebachi. I attend Odaiba Elementary in the fifth grade and I like to swim and ride bikes. That's me. That's who I am. But where did I come from? Who are my parents? That's what I want to know. I want to know of my origin. And... if I can come back here after we go to the human world."

"Wow," the blue haired boy breathed, "That's... really deep, Lucy."

The girl gave a soft smile, "Yeah, but I need to know."

"Then I hope you find out what you want," the oldest boy patted her shoulder.

"Thanks, Joe," she smiled at him again before pulling ahead, more than a little anxious to finally get her answers.

The search lights led the group of children and digimon to a lake. The light was coming from somewhere under the water and the kids were standing at the edge of the water, unsure what to do next.

"I guess we'll be doing a little swimming," Joe said.

"I'm down for that," Lucy said beginning to step forward, but Mimi's despairing cries stopped her, if only to stare at the spectacle.

"My hat! My beautiful hat!" The girl placed her gloved hands on either side of her face, dreading what that water would to do her precious, dry clean only, powder pink cowgirl hat.

"Either we got those directions really wrong, or Gennai's house is in the middle of a lake," Matt said.

"So that's why I've never found it," Izzy said, holding a hand on his chin as he looked at the waters before him.

"Must be really tough to get pizza delivered," Joe quipped.

"Huh?" the tech genius lifted one eyebrow. He supposed that was true.

"Hey!" Gomamon called as he surface from hi little swim in the waters, "Come on in, the water's fine!" Before Lucy could even begin to step up to the edge of the lake, the water beneath the seal digimon began to glow with a white light and bubbles started forming around him. "Oh no!" he cried, thinking the water was about to start boiling.

Instead, starting from the source of the light at the center of the lake, the water parted. It started as a small line, then quickly widened into a path that the kids could walk down and revealed a set of wet stone steps. The kids all marveled, their eyes wide and their mouths open.

"There are stairs going right down into the lake," Palmon gasped.

"Steps?" Tai began to grin, "Alright, gang, we're in business!"

"They must lead to Gennai' house," Matt guessed.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" the wild haired boy asked as he stepped forward.

The rest of the group followed, though Joe had a complaint, as always, "I was kinda hoping he would send a boat to come get us."

Walking down the stairs, the water on each side was almost like a solid wall, except they could see through it. It was like looking into a huge aquarium. And the stairs seemed to go on forever.

"Well, if anyone wants sushi, now's the time to get it," Mimi said, looking at all the fish swimming by.

"I wish I had my rain boots," TK said, feeling the dampness start to seep through his tennis shoes.

"Me too," Patamon said, not really sure what the boy meant, but preferring it when his partner was happy and comfortable.

Finally, something became visible. It was a traditional, Japanese home. And it was floating in the air, coming ever closer to the children as they reached the end of the stairs into the lake.

"A nice place," Sora said, "If you don't mind living in pink fog."

"No lawn to mow," Joe shrugged.

The group made their way onto the property, staring in wonder at something that seemed so strange in this world. Sure, they'd found other, similar structures, but this one was honestly the home of a person who meant them no harm.

"I don't see a doorbell," Tai said.

The group all looked at one another, nodded, and shouted as a cacophony of cries, "Hey! Gennai!"

"Who needs a doorbell with such noisy visitors," the voice of Gennai grumbled, and the kids saw the old man standing on a bridge over a small stream through his property.

"It's the real Gennai!" Izzy exclaimed.

The old man turned to face them, "Who did you expect? Santa Clause?"

"We've just never seen the real you," Tai said.

"Yeah!" the tech genius nodded next to him.

"So, tell us, how come you're always hiding?" the wild haired boy demanded of the old man, his brow furrowing in mild annoyance.

"I'm not," Gennai denied.

"Well, you could have come in person, but you always used projections, right?" Tai said.

"It's just a show to impress you," the old man told them.

"What kind of a person are you, anyway?" Joe asked.

"A human? Or some kinda digimon?" TK asked the million dollar question while the old man chuckled at their curiosity.

"That is not important," the man said as he walked forward to stand right before the gathering of Digidestined and their partners.

"How come you call us the Digidestined!?" Mimi yelled, remembering that some old people had trouble hearing.

Gennai grunted for a moment, leaning away from the young lady, "Easy! I'm old, but I'm not deaf! You were chosen to save this world and your own."

"Jut how were we chosen?" Matt asked, "Why us?"

"Yeah," Sora looked to the old man, "we only signed up for summer camp."

"That is all you need to know for now," Gennai said, shaking his head, "Come inside," he started to lead them into his house, "The most important thing is to return to your world and save the Ninth Child. That, and maybe have a nice bowl of soup or a sandwich," he grinned at the children over his shoulder as he led them into his dining room.

Soon, the group was seated inside of the old man's home, waiting for him to deliver the promised information. The moment they were inside, the water came together again, and filled the property, though the interior of the house remained perfectly dry.

"Look at all the fish!" Mimi exclaimed, giggling merrily. TK and Patamon moved over closer to the open door. The water was held back by some magical force they didn't understand, and it made for quite the sight, seeing all the aquatic life swimming about the yard.

"But those are halibut," Joe pointed out, "They're salt water fish."

The sliding doors opened on their own to reveal Gennai.

"You are right," he told the blue haired boy, "So, I have to feed them popcorn, salted pretzels and tons of salted nuts." He walked into the room over to one wall that had a screen he could pull down.

"Do you think he's pulling our legs?" Joe whispered.

"I have no idea," Tai shrugged.

"At this point, I'd believe elephants could fly in this world," Lucy added.

Gennai turned to face the kids as the screen pulled itself down, showing a map of the human world painted on it, "Now, a look at the weather," he announced like a news caster, turning to face the painting and pulling out a hand held fan, "State," he waved the fan open showing a large red dot on it and the map zoomed in on Japan, "County," he wave the fan again, causing the map to zoom in further, "City," he waved it one final time and the map zoomed in again to show an area of japan the kids knew rather well. A red circle appeared on the map and blinked on and off. "Does anyone recognize this area?" He asked the children.

"Our home town?" Tai asked with a grin.

Gennai nodded with a hum, "And the red, flashing circle indicated Myotismon's location."

The kids gasped in shock and fear. This was way beyond bad news. That creep was probably doing who knows what kind of damage to their home town.

"Myotismon!" the wild haired boy exclaimed.

"Wow," Matt breathed, "He's only a mile from where we all live."

"I'm afraid so," Gennai confirmed.

"I'll bet you that he goes down town," Tai said, looking at the map pensively, "This is not good," he turned to the old man, a determined frown on his face, "Please tell us how to open the gate back to our world."

"You certainly are impatient," Gennai mumbled after they moved into a room fool of drawers. He placed a step ladder before him and hopped up it, reaching into a specific drawer for something. "Keep your goggles on, my young friend," he turned around with something in his hand and hopped down off the ladder, "You'll need these," he placed what he was holding on the table before him in two rows of five. They were cards with pictures of digimon on the front.

"Check 'em out!" Matt said as the others stared in wonder at the cards.

"Digimon key cards," Tai said with awe.

"Alright!" Joe chuckled, "Look at Gomamon," he pointed at the card in question as Gennai put it down.

"I'm cuter in person," the little digimon insisted.

"There I am, too!" Koromon said, looking at the Agumon card.

"But what are they for?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, and how do they help us open the gate?" Tai added.

"Well, there are nine holes on the stone wall of the gate," the old man told them.

"Hmm," Izzy hummed, placing a hand on his chin, "Yeah, so... oh, wait! Do the cards go into the holes?"

"That's right," Gennai smiled, "However, take a closer look." The kids blinked at that before looking at the cards again. There was Kuwagamon, Agumon, Gazimon, Andromon, Elecmon, Unimon, Digitamamon, Drimogemon, Shogungekomon and Gomamon. "It's not as easy as that, do you see the problem?"

"You've given us one too many cards," the tech genius pointed out easily.

"That's right! Mm-hmm. One of them is a fake," the old man explained.

The kids all sighed sadly, their shoulders slumping.

"Which one is it?" Lucy asked, hoping he'd know.

"I don't know," he shrugged.

"We'll just try 'em all," Tai said with a grin, "until we get the right combination." For being an old guy, Gennai could certainly move fast, It seemed he almost teleported behind Tai, putting the boy in a headlock with his eyes wide open for once.

"No, you will not, you silly boy!" he exclaimed, "That's absolutely the last thing you should do! There are many different worlds! If you put the cards in the wrong holes, it'll be a disaster! You could end up in a different world, with no way to return!" He finally let go of the boy and moved to stand at the head of the table again, "Let me explain," he held up a crudely drawn picture of Mimi and Palmon walking into a dimensional gate, "The wrong cards might take you to a world where, for example, people and digimon switch skin!" He showed a picture of Palmon with Mimi's hair and eyes and Mimi with Palmon's flower on her head with her solid green eyes.

"Nooo! Not that!" Mimi screamed, holding her hands clenched before her as she stood up, contiuing to cry out. Palmon looked up at her partner sadly. "I like my skin!" the girl wailed.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Gennai said over her continuous crying, picking up the cards as he went, "You're not going to switch your skin with anyone as long as you learn to use the cards correctly!"

"But we don't have any idea what to do!" Joe said, calling out over Mimi's wails.

"You must learn to use your power," He paused, letting out a breath of relief as Mimi finally stopped crying, "the way Myotismon is using his." He handed the cards to Tai, who looked at them speculatively, wondering what kind of secrets he could divine from them. "Tomorrow, I'll teach you the proper use of the cards."

While the rest of the kids and digimon prepared for bed, Izzy and Lucy remained awake, questions on their minds that needed to be answered.

"You go first, Lucy," the tech genius said softly, "Your questions have more emotional importance than mine."

"Thanks, Izzy, I owe you one," she left the bedroom they were all staying in and walked into Gennai's office, "Gennai?"

"Lucy," he greeted her, "Please, sit. We have much to discuss." He gestured to one of the seating pillows he'd arrayed on the floor earlier for the group.

"I have a lot of questions," she said softly, "Most of them are about my parents. You seem like you knew them. Can you tell me anything about them?"

"I can tell you quite a lot, actually," the old man said, pacing about the room, "Is there anything specific you'd like to know?"

"What were their names?" she asked, "When I was waiting for Tai to come back to the Digiworld, I had a dream that I was in a dark place. There was a man there, he was an annoying goof ball, but he told me why my parent sent me away, but not who they were."

"Hmm?" Gennai hummed, hearing about the man in the dark place, "Well, your father's name was Lucas. Your mother was the love of his life. Her name was Serenity. You look, and act a lot like her, you know? You even have her eyes," the old man smiled gently.

Lucy hm'd at that, looking at herself, "What else do I get from my parents? Physically, I mean."

"Well," he rubbed his chin for a moment in thought, "Your hair comes from a mixture of both parents. Your mother's hair was white as snow. Your father had the most emasculating pink color a man could have," he laughed, "He was very good about it though, he even made up most of the jokes the others used against him. He always just laughed it off and kept the others in good spirits."

Lucy smiled as she pulled a stray strand of her pink locks in front of her eyes, "How did you know them?"

"That," Gennai began, "is a bit longer in the answer than your other questions. You see, there were many of us back then, years and years ago. We worked to balance the digital world. We even had agents in the human world to help us. Our very existence came about for the reason of keeping balance. Most of us were like robots, simply doing the job, never looking up from the paperwork or the computer screens. Always collating and calculating. There were bout a dozen of us that were more than that though. Your mother and father were two of the self aware versions of us. None of us knew what separated us from the others. We did our jobs just as efficiently, we were still dedicated to the cause of keeping the balance, but we had gained emotion, true intelligence.

"Lucas, your dad, was one of the liveliest of the bunch," the old man smiled, "He was an annoying brat sometimes, but he was always capable of making us laugh when we were down. Your mother, well, she was always cool and collected. Not distant, but regal. She always had an air about her that made you think you should listen to whatever she says. When they became romantically involved it was a surprise for several reasons."

"Why?" the girl asked, looking at him in the eye, "Were you forbidden from having relationships?"

"Oh, good heavens, no. In fact, when our creators discovered we actually had emotions, they encouraged us to explore them. It was a surprise because, before they came out saying they were in a relationship, you could have sworn your mother hated your father. It was certainly the odd couple. The Queen and the Court Jester. That's what we called them."

Lucy smiled widely, listening to this story about her parents, all of her attention focused on the man before her. Her eyes were beginning to collect tears in their corners, just so happy to get all this information about her birth parents.

"You, though," the man said, looking at her with another smile, "You were the biggest surprise of all. We never even knew we could breed. You see, we were connected to the world. It's part of what made us the guardians. We always have been and we always would be," he said, somewhat repeating what he'd first said to the children back on File Island, "More of us were not created because we were all that would ever be needed. When Serenity revealed that he was pregnant, all of us were awash with awe.

"But then..." he sighed as he trailed off, looking down.

"Then the evil digimon came," Lucy said, "That annoying guy said that they sent me to the human world to keep me safe."

"That is true. I don't think they expected you to be one of the Digidestined, though. None of us did. But perhaps it is not chance. You were born here, to those meant to keep the balance, perhaps it I fate that you, especially, were called upon to protect it in its time of need," he smiled at her gently, "Does that answer all your questions?"

Lucy nodded, "For that yes, but I have just one more."

"Shoot," he told her.

"When we go to the human world and get the Ninth Child," she began, looking at the table and away from his eyes, "will we... will _I_ be able to come back?"

"I can not say for certain, but I would imagine so," he placed his hand over hers, "I think, in the end, the choice will be up to you, my girl. You have lived in the human world for nearly ten years, minus the three months that you were here, and the Digiworld is the place of your birth. Would you give up all you know to be here? Or would you give up the world of your parents to stick with what you are familiar with? You are the only one who can decide these things."

"I..." she looked at his gloved hand, gripping his thumb, "I'll think about it. I'll have to. I have people that I love in the human world, my adoptive parents and grandparents, but I _belong_ here. I can feel it in my bones. I don't know if I can ignore that now that I've felt it."

"It is a quandary, for sure," Gennai nodded as he stood up, "One that you should not make a decision for hastily. You should get to bed, you will be needed tomorrow, just as much as the others."

Lucy nodded and stood up, "Thank you, for everything. I still have more questions, but I'll save them for when I get back here." She bowed to the old man, smiling at him, "Good night, Gennai."

"Good night, my dear. You may send in Izzy next," he smiled back.

"Will do," she slid open the door and met the boy in the hall, "He's ready for you."

"Did you learn what you hoped to?" Izzy asked.

"Lucas and Serenity," she told him with a grin, "Those were the names of my parents. Goodnight, Izzy."

"Goodnight, Lucy," he waved goodbye to her a she walked into the join bedroom, climbed into her bedroll with Skymomon, a smile still on her face. That night she had dreams about her parents. She didn't remember the majority of her dreams, but she did remember their smiling faces.

+-9

The next morning, the kids and digimon were all seated around the table in the dining room again, just finishing breakfast. They had fish and rice with orange juice.

"Wow, Joe," Sora laughed, "why don't you just eat the bones, too?"

"Hey," the boy said, patting his stomach, "I was hungry."

The doors slid aside then, revealing Gennai again, gathering the attention of the children.

"Good morning, all," he greeted them.

"Hi!" They all smiled back at the man. Despite their initial reservations about the man, he had turned out to be a good person.

"Izzy," he singled the boy out, "I completed the modifications for your computer," Gennai pulled the laptop from behind his back and opened it up, "When you insert someone's Digivice into this adapter," he pointed to a slot just to the right of the power button, "the analyzer will show the information on any digimon that person has seen," he closed the computer again and held it out to the boy, "I also installed a new screen saver. You know, that one with all the colored fishes swimming around? I really like that one."

"Great minds do think alike," Izzy smiled as he took back one of his most precious possessions.

"And now I have a request for all of you," he looked them all in the eye, one by one, lingering for a moment on Lucy, "I don't want you to forget that you are all the Digidestined."

"I wont forget this stomach ache," Joe groaned, placing his forehead on the table.

"Joe!" Sora scolded, "This is serious!"

"I have done all I can do," Gennai said before the conversation could go wildly off topic, "I can no longer help you once you return to Myotismon's castle. Good Luck!" With that, he walked them out of his home, parted the water of the lake again, revealing the stairs.

+-9

The trek back to the castle was done with more energy than they had previously. They'd had an excellent nights sleep, a good breakfast, and they were about to go home. They had reason to have a little extra pep in their step.

But that faded as they fell under the constant cloud cover over Myotismon's castle.

"Man," Joe breathed, "This place looks even scarier than it did the first time."

Tai, at the head of the group as usual, was the first to notice a problem that they were about to have. He frowned as they moved up to one of the doors.

"How do we get past the Devidramon," Izzy asked for the group as they watched two of the black dragons patrolling the castle corridors.

"Leave that to me," Tentomon said, hovering up behind the group, "I'll take care of them while you go in." Tai and Izzy looked to one another then nodded.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!" The blue insectoid that Tentomon became tarted glowing again as the light from Izzy's Digivice was focused through his Crest of Knowledge.

"Kabuterimon, Digivolve to Megakabuterimon!" The blue insectoid turned red again when he evolved. His wings solidified into a large red carapace that actually did not separate to allow his wings to spread. On top of the carapace was a large blue orb. His spiked horn lengthened and turned red as well, the end of it resembling a double sided ax. His four arms were turned red but his hands, which had become more dexterous were still blue. He didn't grow, like Metalgreymon or Garudamon, but his power was still comparable.

Once the giant beetle had fully evolved, the children darted into the castle, going just past the two Devidramon and into the warped hallway that lead to the gate room. The black dragon digimon were about to follow the children when the doors of the castle were ripped off by the giant red Beetle.

"_Horn Buster!_" Megakabuterimon crashed into the castle, horn first, slamming the Devidramon into the wall. The raw power behind the attack had the two digimon who were statues, sending out a pulse of energy as they were destroyed. Suddenly, the warped hallway became normal once more, become a single bridge and stairs going down. The kids, who had been running on the ceiling, dropped to the stairwell with a groan of pain. Motimon reverted from Megakabuterimon and fell down the stairs as well after he destroyed the black dragons.

"Motimon!" Izzy cheered as he caught the little pink thing.

"What happened, Izzy?" The two of them looked up at the stairwell that was a jumble of warped reality.

"Everything turned all right side up again," he grinned, "You fixed the warp in space!"

"C'mon!" Tai called, "Let's get to the gate!"

After taking care of the Devidramon, the path to the gate room was completely clear. It wasn't really a surprise. Myotismon probably didn't think the kids could come through, so why leave anything more than those two dragons of his guarding his castle. Or maybe, he was devoting his every resource to finding the Ninth Child.

Either way, with little fuss, the children stood before the gate and the pedestal with the nine card slots. It was certainly an oddity. In the top three slots, a single star was etched into each. In the next line, two stars, and in the third there were three stars each. At the top was a carving of a monkey, Sagittarius, and Leo the Lion, one over each row.

"We've got to figure out the pattern in these cards," Tai said, holding them before him before he lay them down on the ground before him. He didn't want to lay them on the gate pedestal and accidentally activate it or something. "Hmm?"

"A clue?" Sora asked.

"Good one," he pointed at Agumon's card, "Bad one," he pointed to Drimogemon, "Funky one," he pointed at Shogungekomon.

Joe looked over the wild haired boy's shoulder, adjusting his glasses as he looked at the cards, "Maybe... Rookie, Champion and Ultimate?" He said, referring to the levels of evolution that Gennai had informed them of.

"Could it just be small one, medium one, big one?" Matt scratched his head in confusion, "How can we be sure? And we still don't have a clue which card is the fake one."

"Maybe it's where they live," Sora suggested, "Water or land."

Tai was shifting the cards around, trying to figure out any pattern he could see. Lucy was crouching down off to the side. She was staring intently at the cards, her mind focusing on the problem at hand. She was putting it all together. One piece at a time. She was figuring it out.

"I got nothin'," she sighed, "Only pattern I can see is that they are all digimon, and I couldn't tell you the fake one from the real ones with a microscope."

"Maybe it's in the names," Mimi suggested as Izzy walked by to look at the pedestal itself, "Like Agumon begins with 'A' so that's number one, then... oh, no. It really doesn't make any sense," she groaned, "Izzy," she asked, getting over her inability to solve it rather quickly, "what are you looking at?"

"Myotismon used a spell to open the gate," the tech genius explained, "and I think this picture must have something to do with it. Some of these characters I know," He held a hand on his chin, his usual thinking pose, while Motimon sat on his shoulder, "Sagittarius and Leo are signs of the Zodiac, but there's nothing about a monkey in any horoscope. And what is the significance of this star pattern?"

As he spoke, the ground began to quiver and the sound of falling rocks drifted down to them.

"Matt, what's that sound?" TK asked, looking up just like the others.

"I don't know," the older blonde admitted, hoping it was nothing serious.

"Joe," Lucy said, "I apologize in advance for this."

"What? What are you-gah! That hurts!" he interrupted his own question when the little girl latched onto his arm with a death grip.

"Sorry," she breathed, clenching her eyes tight, then began to chant under her breath, "Please stop shaking, please stop shaking, please stop shaking."

"It's, guh, okay," the older boy said in a little bit of pain. He understood irrational fears. He had a few himself. Dang, did she have a tight grip!

"Well," Mimi said, a little panic creeping into her own voice, "Maybe somebody should go find out what's going on."

"I'll go," Patamon volunteered, leaping out of TK's arms and Flying up the stairwell.

"C'mon, guys!" Tai yelled over the sound and the shaking, "We have to figure out the cards!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Sora agreed.

"What's the point?" Joe asked, "We'll never unlock the gate." He was a real pessimist it seems.

"Don't even say that, Joe!" Sora whirled on him with a disapproving frown.

The boy looked back at her with a solemn look on his face, the shaking causing his glasses to slide down again, "Even if we put the cards in the holes so they look right," he pushed them back up to the bridge of his nose, "we have no way of knowing until it's too late."

Beside him, still clutching his arm and chanting, Lucy whimpered as the shaking didn't stop yet.

"We have to try, Joe," Matt insisted. As he said this, the sound of falling rocks grew louder and the ground vibrated more violently. Lucy let out a small shriek and began chanting louder.

"Please stop shaking, please stop shaking, please stop shaking!" Skymomon was holding onto her like usual, using one paw to rub circles into her back to try and get her to feel better.

"Is Lucy alright?" Mimi asked, worried for her friend.

"She will be," Skymomon told the older girl, "as soon as the shaking stops. She's afraid of earthquakes."

"Something tells me we don't have much time!" Tai exclaimed just as Patamon came back down the stairwell.

"Hey, everyone, the walls and ceiling in the castle are caving in! The passages are all blocked!" he exclaimed, winging his way over to TK.

"Then we can't go back the way we came in!" Matt realized, "We're trapped!"

"Now, we have to open the gate," Izzy insisted, "One of us has to choose nine cards and put them into the holes and that'll be that."

Joe stood there resolutely, Lucy still hanging off his arm in her terror, "You, Tai."

"Me?" The wild haired boy questioned.

"Yeah, it's your call," he nodded with a small smile.

"Mine?" he was a little speechless that the worry wart of the group would want to leave the decision in his hands, "Why is it up to me?"

"I'm not trying to put you on the spot, or anything like that," Joe told him, "I just think we all believe in you, Tai."

"Joe's right," Matt stepped forward, "In times like these, decisions need to be made by the one in charge."

"Hold on!" Tai said, "Have you guys all gone crazy? Who made me leader?"

"Do you remember when you were gone, Tai?" the blonde asked him rhetorically, "We fell apart without you around," he placed his hands on the other boy's shoulders, "And after all that, weren't you the one who managed to bring us all back together again?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," the wild haired boy admitted.

"Just do it, Tai!" Mimi ordered, trembling with fear, her head dipped low and her fists clenched beside her.

"Mimi," Sora said.

"I just wanna get back to my home, that's all!" he took a few deep breaths before she stood up straight with a kind smile, holding her hands behind her back, "I'm sorry, I was being selfish again. I have to remember, we're a team. Come on, Tai, save the day!" TK and Sora, standing right next to the girl, smiled as well.

"Yeah, we have to believe in our friends," Sora told him, "Remember what Gennai said?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded, "He said to believe in our power. You believe, don't you, Tai?"

"Maybe," Tai said, his face taking on a pensive look.

"Come on, we've gone through a lot of weird stuff already," Joe said, "If we hadn't stuck together, we never would have beaten Seadramon."

"Or smashed Tyrannomon," the older blonde added.

"Or escaped from Toy Town," Mimi said.

"And I'd still be making french fries in Veggiemon's diner if you hadn't saved me," Joe finished, "You can do it, Tai."

"You can do it, Tai!" the whole group told him, even Lucy, fighting past her fear to speak.

"Alright!" Tai said, looking up with determination burning in his eyes. He turned to the gate and took a few steps forward, "So you're leaving it up to me to get this gate open, huh? And whatever I decide is the best way, you're all willing to go along with it?"

They all gave their ascent at once.

He turned to face them, "Well, I've decided, I want Izzy to do it!" He smiled wide.

The boy in question blanched for a second, "What? You do? Why me?"

"If that's what Tai thinks, I agree!" Mimi said with a smile.

"Us too!" Matt asserted for the rest of the group, "Don't worry, Izzy, Tai believes in you and so do the rest of us!" Lucy even managed to give the tech genius a brief thumbs up. The shaking had stopped, finally, but she was still holding on to Joe. One could never tell when it would start up again. She didn't have him in a death grip anymore, though.

Izzy closed his eyes for a couple of moments, preparing himself for the problem he was about to try to solve, "But what happens if I'm wrong?"

"No one will blame you," Mimi told him kindly.

"We all know you're the right one for the job, Izzy," Tai spoke again with an encouraging smile, "Go for it!"

A look of resolution came over the tech experts face. They all really did believe in him. They relied on him to get the job done.

"I still have no idea how this all fits together," he said as he looked at the pedestal.

"Maybe you could use your computer to help figure it out," Motimon suggested while the rest of the group watched silently, not wanting to impede his thought process.

"The computer? Oh, right now I'd rather use it to log on to the internet and book us a flight out of this place," despite this proclamation, Izzy still opened up his laptop and opened the digimon file. The cards themselves were the only reason he did this. Perhaps there was something in the data of the digimon that could help him solve it.

The first image to pop up was Devimon, the Leomon, after that Ogremon, then Centarumon, followed by Whamon.

"Huh?" he intoned, "Wait a minute," he clicked back to Centarumon, "The horse," then he moved to Leomon, "The lion," he pulled up Etemon's page, "The monkey. That's it!" he maneuvered the three pages so he could see them all at once. He remembered what Gennai had told him about the attributes of digimon, that every single one could be put under the headings of Virus, Data, or Vaccine. "Could it be?" he turned to the others, "Who here has met up with Digitamamon and Shogungekomon?"

"I have," Joe volunteered.

"Give me your Digivice," The younger boy ordered, taking it when the older boy held it out. He plugged it into the slot Gennai had built for him, bringing up the information on the two digimon he mentioned. "Prodigious!"

"You figured it out?" Tai asked with a hopeful smile.

"I think I might have," he grinned, beginning to used a small rock to etch a representation of the grid on the pedestal into the ground, "Come on, guys, check this out. The first three, The Lion, The Archer, The Monkey," he pointed to them in turn, "Would be Leomon, Centarumon and Etemon. In addition, there's one of each classification. Data, Virus, and Vaccine. The stars, starting at the top," he pointed to the progressive number of starts, "represent Rookie, Champion, and Ultimate. So, now we can put all the cards in the right squares!" He placed the card on the grid he'd drawn in the order they were meant to go.

"You did it, Izzy!" Sora exclaimed, "Good work!"

"We knew you'd figure it out!" Tai smiled.

"Wait a minute. Not so fast," Izzy pointed to the two cards in the space for the Rookie level Vaccine digimon, "There are two cards here. One of them is the fake, but I don't know which one. That's it," he looked up at the other kids, "I'm sorry. We still can't be certain where the gate will open to."

Joe stood up then, smiling at the boy, "But we made it this far. That's great!" he started applauding Izzy and the others joined in.

"Yes, it is!" Izzy grinned, accepting the praise.

"Tai can pick which one's fake," Sora said.

"If I can't, everyone gets an ice cream, and I'm buyin'!"

Palmon, just like the others, was applauding Izzy's accomplishment, but he was distracted as she noticed a little bit of dust fall in front of her. She looked up and gasped in fear. The kids looked up as well, just in time to see several soccer ball sized spiders with yellow helmets that had eight bulbous eyes on them coming down from the ceiling of the gate room. And behind them was the mother of all spiders. It looked exactly like the little ones with the addition of grimy red hair coming down to either side of its his that it used to short arms and large hands to hold out of it's eyes and a large skull print on it's thorax.

"What the heck is that thing?" Tai asked, staring in horror at the spider.

"I'll tell you in just a minute," Izzy said, typing on his computer, "It's Dokugumon! An evil digimon with computer virus parasites covering his body!"

The monster spider growled at the kids, "Intruders in the castle must be destroyed! Go get them!" More of the smaller, but still monstrous, spiders descended towards the group with ill intent.

Gomamon, Skymomon, Palmon and Gabumon jumped to the rescue though, turning into their Champion level forms of Ikkakumon, SkyYetimon, Togemon and Garurumon.

"_Howling Blaster!_" Garurumon shouted as he breathed the blue fire on the mass of spiders, destroying them and causing more rocks to fall from the ceiling.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Koromon urged Tai, who had already placed the cards correctly except for the final two, Gomamon and Agumon, "We're running out of time!"

"_Needle Spray!_"

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_"

The three attacks took out more of the smaller spiders, but Dokugumon seemed unaffected, not even near where the attacks hit.

Sora noticed more spiders coming from another direction and screamed as they came close to hitting her.

"Yokomon, Digivolve to Biyomon!" The little pink digimon became a large than average pink bird, "_Spiral Twister!_" The spiraling green flames knocked the spiders out of the air and away from her partner.

"Just in time, Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed with a thankful smile.

"I can't decide," Tai said in despair, holding up the last two cards, "Which one is the fake card?" Joe, Izzy, Mimi, TK and Lucy were all standing around the pedestal with him, anxiously waiting on hi decision.

"Hurry up!" Mimi urged, "Choose!"

'_If I choose wrong, we're toast!_' Tai thought as he stared at the Gomamon and Agumon cards.

Meanwhile, Dokugumon finally came down from the ceiling before it launched its attack.

"_Poison Thread!_" White webbing shot out of the spider monster's mouth, wrapping around the four Champion digimon. Once it had them in its web, it pulled them up towards the ceiling then uttered the name of another attack, "_Poison Cobweb!_" It breathed out a purple mist that hit the four digimon, causing them great pain.

"Garurumon!" Matt cried.

"Digivolve again!" Sora urged him.

The light from the Digivice on Matt's hip focused through his Crest again, and Garurumon Digivolved into WereGarurumon. The werewolf digimon ripped out of the web, easy as pie. Doing so allowed the other digimon to fall to the ground. The Poison Cobweb attack had drained their energies and they reverted back to their Rookie forms.

WereGarurumon then met Dokugumon half way, getting the evil spider in a headlock, not even struggling to keep it there.

"Come on, Tai!" Matt said, "You have to choose!"

Finally, the boy through the two cards down on the pedestal face down so he wouldn't know which one he was picking.

"Okay, it's this one!" He flipped over the card on the right, revealing Gomamon, "C'mon! Now!" He placed the card in the ninth slot.

"Hurry!" Mimi cried.

"Come on!" Matt and TK yelled.

"Please be right!" Lucy held her hand to her chest while she held Skymomon in the other.

The gate slid open, bright blue light coming from beyond it.

"It's opening!" Sora exclaimed happily.

"It worked!" TK marveled.

"Come on!" Tai called, waving the other kids forward as he grabbed Koromon and ran towards the gate. Lucy, Mimi and Joe picked up their fallen digimon and ran after him. Only Matt didn't immediately run for the gate, and that was because WereGarurumon was still fighting Dokugumon, and there was no way he could leave his partner behind.

"Leave him and come on!" Matt shouted at the werewolf digimon.

"You'll never get out of here unless you defeat me!" Dokugumon cried.

WereGarurumon took that challenge, pulling back his right arm, hi claws glowing blood red. He lashed them forward, unleashing the energy of his attack and easily cutting through the purple mist of the Poison Cobwebs and vaporizing the spider digimon.

"_Wolf Claw!_"

The light from the explosion obscured WereGarurumon's de-Digivolving to Tsunomon. Matt picked up the little digimon with the big horn and started running to the gate.

"That was close, Tsunomon, but it looks like we made it!" And Indeed they had. The boy leapt forward, diving through the gate just before it closed behind him. After the gate closed, the mountain collapsed and that portal to the human world was closed forever.

+-9

Traveling through dimensional barriers can be a trying experience. It is never the same for each different world you travel to. For some, it could take you apart, piece by piece, and reassemble you in your destination. Another might freeze you until you arrive then thaw you out.

Honestly, falling infinitely downwards in a world between to oceans was not a bad way to travel all thing considered. The children still ended up blacking out though, not able to stay awake for the whole trip from one world to another.

The next thing they knew, they were opening their eyes to the pure blue sky of the human world and a cold, wet feeling on their backs.

"Where are we?" Tai asked as he got up.

"I know this place," Joe said, "This is the summer camp where we all met," he approached the cabin they had stayed in to wait out the storm, "You did it, Tai, we're home again!"

Mimi sat up with a big smile on her face and her eyes watering, "Oh, Home!" She began crying happily.

Lucy sat up, heaving a heavy sigh as she placed her hand on her chest. She could feel it already. A missing piece of herself. It felt... hollow inside herself. She looked to the sky and mumbled softly so no one would hear, "Yeah, we're back, but not all of us are home."

"We're right where we were when we were first sucked into the digital world," Sora said, looking off into the distance, "But where are our digimon?"

Lucy blinked, looking around frantically. She couldn't find Skymomon anywhere. No, no, no! She couldn't lose Skymomon at the same time she lost the feeling in her chest! Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes as the others realized that their digimon were missing as well.

"I wonder if we got the cards wrong, after all," Izzy said sadly.

"Then, in this world, we could be without them," Sora hung her head, her chocolate eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

"You can't get rid of us that easily!" A familiar voice filled the air. All of the children looked in that direction to see their digimon partners standing there. They were holding branches from berry bushes.

"Wake up!" Palmon smiled, "Come on, sleepy heads!"

"We're up, we're up!" Tai laughed, "Where have you guys been?"

"We thought we oughta go look for a little lunch!" Gomamon told them as they presented the berry branches.

"Yeah! These look extra tasty!" Skymomon grinned.

Lucy beamed happily, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes as she looked at her partner and friend. She couldn't express how happy she was to have the little winged monkey digimon still with her.

"Now that we're home," Joe said, "we don't have to eat leaves anymore! We can eat cheeseburgers!"

"That' right!" Mimi said, wiping away a few tears herself, "Or a big, pepperoni pizza!"

"And french fries!" TK said.

"And ice cream!" Matt added.

"And potato chips!" Lucy threw in her two cents.

"Yeah!" Sora grinned, "And broccoli!"

"Broccoli!?" The rest of the group asked, not believing she actually said that.

At the same time, the digimon had moved over to their partners, Koromon hopping into Tai's hands.

"How did you know my card was the fake, Tai?" he asked the wild haired boy.

"I didn't," He grinned, "I kept your card 'cause you're my friend!" The two of them laughed together.

"That's so nice," the little pink digimon cooed.

"Hey, everybody," Tai called out, catching everyone's attention, "We've got to go find the Ninth Child!"

"Yeah," Matt said with a smile, "And we've got to get a move on since Myotismon's there ahead of us!"

"I'm happy that we're finally heading back to my home town!" Tai exclaimed, the joy radiating off of him nearly palpable, "And we already know that's where we're gonna find the Ninth Child! Let's go!"

The rest of the Digidestined cheered, all of them lifting a fist in the air together.

Chapter Twenty Five: End

Please Enjoy.


	26. Chapter 26 Highton View Terrace

Chapter Twenty Six: Return To Highton View Terrace

Lucy looked around the camp in the area that they'd been dumped. She turned her green eyes to the sky, looking at the pure blue. It was the sky she'd grown used to over the course of her life. It was a sky she'd always wished she could fly through. It was a sky that seemed so friendly on summer days, so endless in the winter.

It wasn't _her_ sky. She looked to the other kids who were marveling. They were so glad to be back under this sky. She had to admit, there was some merit to being in this world. Food would be a lot easier to come by. Her parents and friends were here, those outside of the group of people she met at camp.

But, as of Myotismon's arrival in this world, they couldn't say that there would be no monster attacks here.

"We've got to get to Highton View Terrace and stop Myotismon before he finds the Ninth Digidestined," Tai's voice broke through her thoughts.

"I wonder how much of a head start he has on us," Sora said.

"Not even a minute has passed since Myotismon left for Japan and when we arrived," Izzy said, "Time flows at a different pace in the Digiworld."

"I'll say," Matt spoke up next, "We've spent months in the Digiworld, but here it's the same day we left."

"That's impossible!" Joe exclaimed, turning to look at Matt, "You mean all those adventures took less time than it does to, say, get a hair cut?"

"Please, Joe, don't exaggerate," Mimi said to the boy, "Imagine getting your hair done in such a short amount of time."

Tai just shook his head as he moved off towards the stairs that would lead down into the main portion of the campgrounds, "I'm gonna go take a look at the camp. I wanna see for myself how much time has really passed. One of you come with me, the rest of you stay there. Who volunteers?" He stopped at the landing at the base of the first set of steps and turned to look back up at the others, waiting to see who would be coming with him.

What he saw was Gomamon, Biyomon, and Koromon leading the pack. Koromon slipped on one of the stairs and flew forward into Tai's arms. The boy looked up at the other kids and their digimon.

"I asked for one volunteer, not fifteen," he said plaintively.

"I thought I'd keep you company," was Mimi's excuse.

"And we're gonna keep Mimi company," Joe explained with a shrug.

"I guess we were all pretty curious to find out what happened while we were gone," Izzy said, getting nods from the rest of the children.

"We've been gone for a few months, and maybe only a couple hours, I don't know about you guys, but I'm at least interested to see if anyone even noticed we were gone," Lucy said with Skymomon hanging off her back as usual.

"But how will we explain it if somebody see's our digimon?" Tai asked.

"Oh, kids!" a man's voice called out.

"It's," Sora gasped, "our teacher!" she fought off the urge to run up to the man and give him a hug. It would look kind of suspicious if she did, but it was just so relieving to see another human, actual human, face again.

The man in question was about average height, had brown curly hair, was wearing a pink jacket, a white undershirt and blue jeans. He was a kind man who took up teaching because he enjoyed it. He loved taking care of kids, making sure that they learned those things they needed to know.

"We are home!" Sora grinned happily.

As it would turn out, Tai didn't quite have the impulse control that Sora did.

"Mister Fujiyama!" he cried happily, running forward to meet the man who was running towards him.

"Watch out!" the man warned, barely skidding to a stop before they slammed into one another. Tai still fell back, but that was more of his own fault than anything else. "What are all of you kids doing, playing around here, when you haven't even packed up your gear yet?" the man demanded from Tai, only giving a cursory glance at Koromon.

"Well, sir, I can explain," Tai began.

"Well, I'm Tai's digi-mm!" Koromon started to speak for a moment before Tai clamped a hand down over his mouth.

"Didn't you kids hear that we're closing up camp early because of the snow?" Mister Fujiyama asked, "Everyone else are all ready to go home." He didn't seem to catch the fact that the pink little ball with ears had talked, or if he did, he was really good at ignoring it.

Tai quickly stood up, smiling nervously, "Sure, of course we heard," he chuckled lightly.

The man sighed, looking from the wild haired boy to the other seven kids, "Where did you get those dirty, little toys you're carrying?" for a moment, no one realized he meant the digimon, "Where'd you get 'em?" he repeated, frowning and placing his fists on his hips. He even took a few steps forward so it would appear he was towering over them.

"Toys?" Tai asked, confused for a moment, still laughing nervously.

"Who's he calling a dirty, little toy?" Motimon demanded from Izzy's arms, "That's not-mmm!"

Izzy placed a hand over his digimon's mouth as well, "You can't let anyone know can talk," he whispered to his digital friend.

Matt was also holding a hand over the mouth of Tsunomon, "Pretend to be stuffed animals," he ordered the digimon.

Lucy looked at Skymomon over her shoulder. The monkey winked before her eyes went all glassy and lifeless, like a real stuffed toy. The only think that might grab attention from the others would be the fact that she was blue and had green wings.

"Oh, these toys!" Tai finally realized that Mister Fujiyama was talking about the digimon and came up with something quick, "Well, you see, they're stuffed."

"Yes, Tai," the man said simply, "I can see that."

"Uh, oh, we found them here!" Sora said quickly.

"Yeah, that's right," Joe was quick to agree, "You see, we were hiking up an uncharted trail," not exactly a lie, "when we came across these stuffed toys that someone had thrown away. It makes perfect sense if you ask me." He, like Tai, was grinning nervously, praying that the teacher would buy it.

"Who in their right mind would hike up an uncharted trail just to throw away eight stuffed animals?" Fujiyama asked.

"Exactly our point," Tai said, building on the fib, "And that's why we think that littering is crazy," he turned back to the others, "Right, Gang?"

"Right!" They all said together.

"But being the good citizens that we are, we cleaned up the mess, and now I'm giving the toys to my little sister, Kari as a present," the wild haired boy told the teacher, "She wasn't able to come to camp, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," the teacher nodded, "she caught a cold, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but she's feeling much better now because I went home and made her an omelet," Tai told him.

"When did you do that?" Fujiyama asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"When I-" Koromon began, but Tai held his mouth shut again.

"When? That's a good question. Um, right before I left for camp!" he was beginning to sweat now. There was no way Fujiyama would buy this load of sludge.

"It's nice that you're thinking of your sister, Tai, but don't over do it," the teacher said with a smile, "Those toys are filthy and belong in the garbage, right kids?"

"Right!" The kids all nodded. Lucy had to resist the urge to face palm when she noticed the digimon nodding, too. This stuffed toy ruse was not going to last long at this rate.

"Meet you at the bus," the man turned around and ran to the next area to make sure that all the kids were getting their stuff together to go home.

"I'd like to get his gear together and throw him in the garbage can!" Koromon grumbled, taking the insults to their appearance personally.

"Well, you wouldn't be littering," Tai laughed.

"Lucy," Skymomon whispered, "do I look like trash?"

"No, you're adorable," the girl smiled, "They couldn't force me to throw you away."

+-9

In Highton View Terrace, standing atop a roof, Gatomon and Demidevimon were examining the world they had come to. It was so... different.

"The human world is so cluttered," Gatomon purred, "all these creatures cram on top of each other." She was watching as families entered and exited the apartment buildings.

"The Ninth Digidestined lives nearby," the bat digimon said to her before turning to a figure lurking in the shadows, "What's next, Myotismon?" Gatomon turned as well.

The tall vampire digimon looked sick. He was leaning against the wall of the building they were standing on, desperately avoiding the sunlight. It was very quickly sapping his strength and his breathing was growing heavy and labored. If you listened closely you could hear a slit sizzling, as if he was being cooked in the light of the day.

"Unfortunately, until the sun goes down, I must remain hidden in the shadows," he looked at his two minions over his shoulder, "Begin the search without me. Here," he tossed a Tag with a pink Crest in it to the cat digimon. The Crest inside the Tag was etched with a glyphic sun, like Tai's own.

"I wont let you down, Lord Myotismon," Gatomon said.

"I need to be alone," he growled, heading for a door in the parking garage.

"I'll come with you!" Demidevimon called, flying after his master, but only ended up hitting the steel door face first as the vampire closed it behind him. He fell to the ground, grunting in pain. The world was just not fair.

+-9

At the campgrounds, several Greyhound buses had come to pick up all the children and take them home. They were quickly loading their gear into the undercarriage and boarding the buses with their friends and classmates.

The Digidestined and their digimon were looking at it with awe in their eyes. It had been so long, for the kids, since they'd seen anything like this. It felt so... good, to see other human faces.

"Remember," Joe told the digimon, "don't talk in front of anyone else, okay?"

"Don't worry," Palmon said, "We can just pretend to be adorable stuffed animals."

As she was saying this, Tai peeked around a bush, a grin on his face as he looked at the rest of the kids.

"Wow! Look at all the kids!" Koromon exclaimed, getting Tai to clamp his mouth shut again.

"Didn't we just say not to talk out loud?" the wild haired boy hissed to his digimon.

"Yeah, but look at all the human children!" the little creature pointed out.

"We never knew there were never knew there were more human children than you," Biyomon said as she looked at the mass of kids between fourteen and seven.

"This is nothing," Sora said with a smile, "Why, just in the city along, there must be tens of thousands of kids, just like us! And when you add in the kids from the rest of the world, there must be millions!"

"Huh?" Biyomon, Palmon, Gomamon and Skymomon all intoned, looking at the girl.

"You mean there are millions of Soras?" the bird digimon asked in shock.

"There's only one of me!" Sora frowned, clenching her fists.

"She just means there are more kids our age," TK said, looking down at Patamon, "But there are tons of different people in the world."

"Wow!" Tsunomon and Patamon said together, thinking about it.

"Hey!" Mimi exclaimed, "It's Michelle!" She ran over to a girl with pigtails, a smile on her face. She began to greet her old friends like she hadn't seen them in months. The only problem was, they had seen her only a few minutes ago.

"Oh, Mimi," Palmon sighed.

"She'll give us away!" Tai whispered, "I told her no time has passed since we went to the Digiworld!"

Izzy turned to the boy, a resigned smile on his face about the girl's antics, "Forget Mimi, we have to find some kind of transportation to Highton View Terrace."

"I've got an idea," Tai said, seeing Mister Fujiyama talking to one of the bus drivers, "Mister Fujiyama!"

The man turned to look at the soccer fan running up to him, "Hmm?"

"Can you have the bus drop us off somewhere?" the wild haired boy asked.

"Have the bus drop you off?" the teacher placed his hands on his hips, "No can do. The rules say I have to take you straight to your homes."

"Please, Mister Fujiyama, I'm begging you. Could you please just let us off near Highton View Terrace?" the boy pleaded.

"Highton View Terrace? Why do you want to go there?" the man asked.

"Well, we used to live there and we were feeling nostalgic, so, we thought we'd visit our old hangout," Tai explained.

Joe, Sora, Izzy, Matt, Lucy and TK ran up then, holding their digimon, "Please!" They all said at once.

"We'd really appreciate it," Izzy added.

"It's against the rules," the teacher said strongly.

"You know, I think we drive pretty close to Highton View Terrace," the bus driver said helpfully, looking at his clipboard with a hand on his chin, "Let's see. First, we take the freeway, to the parkway, to the throughway... oh, that's the wrong way. Oh, yeah! Here at the roadway, Highton View Terrace is within walking distance," he tapped the spot on his clipboard.

The kids grinned, that was where they needed to stop, now they just needed to convince the teacher to let them.

"Great!" Tai said, stepping up the driver with a grin, "Then that's where you could let us off, mister."

Fujiyama frowned and stepped up next to the boy, "Hold on! I didn't give the bus driver permission, yet!"

"Please, Mister Fujiyama," Matt said softly, sadness in his tone. The man turned to look at the boy and his little brother, both of them looking at him, depression in their gazes. "You'll break TK's heart if you don't let us go. It was the last place we all lived together before my parents got divorced," he placed a hand on TK's shoulder, and the young boy was hugging Patamon to his chest, burying his lower face in the flying digimon. The boy suddenly turned, burying his face into his brother's stomach, holding onto him with one hand. "TK," the older boy breathed as his little brother was wracked with silent sobs.

Lucy pitched in then, "We can take the train home from there. It's not too far from there to our homes so it really shouldn't be a problem."

"Mister Fujiyama," Joe said now, "Please let us off at Highton View Terrace. As an upperclassmen, I'll take responsibility for getting them home."

The man sighed, crossing his arms, "Well, I guess if a reliable kid like you is going, Joe, then it's okay. However, call your parents and tell them where you are."

"Deal!" Tai and Joe said with a victorious grin. Lucy and Izzy gave each other a high five, and the rest of the kids bowed their thanks.

"Thanks, Mister Fujiyama," Joe told him.

"Yeah! You're the greatest teacher, ever!" Tai added.

"Yeah, yeah," He sighed, shooing them along. He was a sucker and he knew it.

"Yahoo!" the wild haired boy exclaimed, literally jumping for joy as he turned to the others, "Hey, how long are you going to keep that act up?" he asked Matt and TK.

The older boy opened a single eye, then grinned and let go of TK who turned around to show he was smiling as well.

"Hey, if we didn't come up with something sappy, like that, he never would have let us go," Matt said with a grin.

"You mean that sad story was just an act?" Joe said, incredulous, "I was crying my eyes out so much for you guys that my glasses started to fog up!" the older boy exclaimed.

"Joe," Tai said, holding up one hand, "Calm down before you have an asthma attack."

Mimi was still talking to her friends, laughing happily as she got on the bus, "I missed you all, so much!"

"I hope she isn't going to act this way with every kid she meets," Palmon said plaintively as she moved to go after the girl, "Hey!" Izzy and Sora were quick, however, putting a hand over her mouth and stopping her from moving before someone saw.

Soon enough, the trip was underway. Most of the kids were just happy not to have to walk all the way home. They'd had more than enough walking back in the digital world for a life time. Only Lucy seemed depressed.

"Are you alright, Lucy?" Mister Fujiyama placed a hand on her shoulder as he walked down the aisle.

"Yeah," she breathed in deeply then looking up at him with a sad smile, "I was just having fun at camp. It's sad we have to leave so early."

"Tell me about it," the man grinned at her, "I was looking forward to those canoe races. But maybe we can try it again next year. Freak snow storms can't happen every year after all."

"Yeah, hopefully," she nodded.

Sitting towards the middle of the bus, both she and the teacher who'd been talking to her heard the others saying something about their Digivices.

"What's that?" Fujiyama said as he walked up to their group, getting the group to grimace as he asked about their devices, "Is that the latest toy all you kids are into?"

"No!" Joe panicked, "It's just one of the old ones we all hate."

But the man wouldn't be deterred, "Let me take a look at it," he said with a smile.

Tai stepped up then, trying to stop him, "Uh, it's broken!" he told the man, holding his hands out before him.

"Maybe I can fix it," Fujiyama told the boy as he gently pushed him to the side and stood beside Sora, "Here, give it to me. I'm pretty good with electronics."

"Yes, sir," the girl handed it over easily, an unsettled smile on her face.

"Thank you, Sora. Unlike other children, you really listen to your teachers," The man examined the device, pushing this button or that one, but not getting it to react. The girl sighed, turning away in embarrassment.

"There's no harm in letting him take a look at it, Tai," Izzy said to the boy as he tinkered with his computer again, glad to finally be able to connect to the net again.

"For about a second there, I thought Mister Fujiyama was an evil digimon," Tai said in explanation, his eyes half lidded and his hands on his hips.

"I think you've spent way too much time in the Digiworld," the tech genius replied.

"Think about it," the wild haired boy turned to face the younger child, "If he were an evil digimon, every time you failed a test, he'd scream out his attack, Homework Blaster!"

"Actually," Fujiyama's voice came from behind the boy as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's more like Tickle Blaster," and he began to demonstrate this devastating attack on the boy, wiggling his fingers against his ribs. Tai laughed uncontrollably, squirming about as he fell prey to the devious onslaught. Seeing him freak out like that got the other kids laughing and even brought Lucy out of her funk.

+-9

Running around Highton View Terrace, pretty much ignored because of her close semblance to a normal cat, Gatomon had the Crest around her neck to allow her to run on all fours. She stopped every time she came to a cluster of children, waiting for the crest to react, but it never did.

From groups of children riding bikes, to kids playing Little League, they were everywhere, but there was still no response from the Crest.

"You can't turn over a rock without finding a kid under it in this world, and yet, I still haven't found the Ninth Digidestined," she complained. As she watched the children play their game, a dog began to approach, growling at the digital cat. It barked once or twice before it ran forward.

Gatomon leapt up onto the fence then lashed the dog across the muzzle with her tail. The dog yelped and ran away, knowing when it was outclassed.

Seeing as there was no reaction from the Crest at all, Gatomon returned to Myotismon's lair in the human world. He'd hollowed out an area under the parking garage, and was resting inside his coffin.

Gatomon bowed low before him, placing her nose to the ground.

"What do you mean, you couldn't find the Ninth Digidestined?" Myotismon demanded from inside his coffin. The evil digimon he'd brought to the human world with him were also in the hollowed out room, waiting for his orders. "You have failed me!"

"Please don't hurt me, your evil-ship," Gatomon sounded small and weak for once as she prostrated herself before her master, "I swear, he isn't here."

"Silence, Gatomon!" The lid slid aside and the vampire digimon sat up. Demidevimon descended form the ceiling beside the evil digimon, holding a number of other Crests, exactly like the one Gatomon had. "I have made several copies of the Ninth Digidestined's Tag and Crest. The one that you have is a copy too," he told the cat as the bat digimon gave the other copies to the digimon waiting around in the room.

"So, I'm a copy cat?" she quipped.

"The original is with me," he said, ignoring her, "Even though they are only copies, they will still become activated when the Ninth Child is nearby," he threw his arms out to the side dramatically, flaring his cape, "This time, make no mistakes. You must find that child."

Gatomon and Demidevimon bowed, "Gotcha!"

"And when you do find him," Myotismon grinned, clutching the Tag and Crest in his hand, "then he must die!"

+-9

The kids had been dropped off of the bus a little bit ago. They were standing on a bridge that crossed over the high traffic roads and waving to the buss as it continued on it's journey to drop the other children off.

"It was real nice of them to let us off here," Koromon said, happy to be able to talk again.

"There's the Highton View Terrace Tower!" Mimi exclaimed as she pointed to a cylindrical building.

"It's the tallest apartment building in Japan," Izzy told the kids and digimon.

"Terrific," Joe sighed, "I'm afraid of heights."

Lucy giggled, "That's kind of funny. A guy afraid of heights living in a place called _Highton_ View Terrace."

"Yeah, hilarious," the older boy grumbled, crossing his arms.

"That place isn't so hot," Tai said looking out at the tower.

"That's true," Sora said, "The heat there never worked. I used to live there."

"Wow, Sora, you lived in that big castle?" Biyomon said, turning to her partner.

"Yep!" the girl replied with a small smile.

"I lived here, too," Tai said, "A block away in another building. Sora and I went to West Side Elementary together."

"Hey, I went to West Side Elementary," Matt said.

"You're kidding," Joe piped in, "You mean you guys were telling the truth when you said you used to live in Highton View Terrace?"

"Yeah," the blonde boy nodded, "We really did live here before my parents broke up."

"That was long time ago," TK told him, "When I was a _little_ kid."

"Strange coincidence, 'cause I used to live here, too," The blue haired boy told the group.

"I lived here, too, before we moved," Mimi smiled.

"Me too!" Izzy exclaimed, "Just for a little while. It's a long story. What about you, Lucy?"

"Got it in one," she said, pointing off towards the building she stayed in, "I lived here around four years ago, then we moved to Odaiba."

"So, at some point, we all lived at Highton View Terrace at the same exact time," Tai summed up.

"This can't just be a coincidence," the tech genius of the group said, "There's gotta be some meaning here." Before he could theorize further, they heard the flapping of wings. Looking up showed a horde of Myotismon's bats flying by.

"It's Myotismon's army!" Tai exclaimed, "Run for it!" The kids ran for a side street, making sure to keep out of sight of the bats lest they bring down the evil digimon on themselves.

High above them, Gatomon grinned as she jumped from roof to roof. She saw the children scrambling to avoid the eyes of the bats.

"They can run, but they can't hide from Mammothmon," she said as they split into two groups to hide more easily.

Even as she announced that, down on the street below, a massive digimon made itself known. Its feet were large enough that it crushed a delivery van under just one. Its trunk, covered in metal plating, wrapped around a light post and ripped it out of the ground, throwing it away. Then it reached out and picked up a motorcycle, tossing that about as well.

"My new motorcycle!" Its owner cried angrily as he took off his red helmet and turned to glare at the beast that destroyed it. What he found was a forty foot tall wooly mammoth with a metal helmet on it's head, two huge tusks and sharp teeth in its mouth. The helmet had a glyphic eye on it and its ears looked almost like wings. "Hey!" the man called out, "Respect other peoples' property, you walking shag carpet!"

In response, the beast roared. The bike owner threw his helmet at the digimon then turned and ran. Mammothmon knocked the red safety device out of the air and began to stomp forward. It over took the man, just barely missing turning him into a road pizza.

"Hey," the guy called, "whoever owns this elephant should know there's a leash law around here!"

Mammothmon just roared and kept on stomping through the district, smashing everything in his path as he went.

"Oh, look honey, how cute!" A woman said as she held onto her boyfriend, "An elephant on a rampage."

"They must be shooting a movie or something," the man decided.

The giant digimon smashed its way through another cross bridge and kept going without even slowing down. It was looking for the Ninth Child in the loudest most destructive way possible.

"What's that big eared freak trying to do?" Gatomon questioned from a rooftop, "Destroy the Digidestined and everything else, too? He never should have brought that type of digimon along for this." She may serve the monster, but she could still be critical of Myotismon's methods. As long as the digimon wasn't around to hear it.

The mammoth came to an intersection, stomping out into the middle of it with another roar. Cars screeched to a stop and the people got out with screams of terror as they ran. It was lucky for one family and a truck driver in particular as the monster picked up a blue car and threw it at a truck, causing them to explode before he moved on.

"If that's a car, it's got an awful lot of trunk space," one man quipped before he was forced to leave his vehicle, the mammoth stomping it into the ground a half second later.

"I'm gonna call the cops!" another civilian spoke as he dialed Nine, One, One, "Huh? My phone's dead!"

And Mammothmon continued on. He stomped, roared and destroyed his way down the road. It seemed he would continue on forever.

+-9

The kids had gathered together again, some distance away, in front of a familiar candy shop.

"Say, do any of you remember this place?" Tai asked as he looked at the signs saying the types of candy the store carried, "I bought candy here."

"It was my favorite store," Mimi agreed.

"Oh, sure," Joe said, "Mine, too."

"You probably don't remember this place, TK, because you were too little, but mom and dad used to take us here all the time," the older blond smiled as he looked from his younger brother to the store.

"Maybe some candy will help me to remember," TK suggested with a grin.

"I used to get these green apple flavored candies here all the time. They were my absolute favorite," Lucy said, looking through the windows to see if she could spot the sweets she mentioned. She had a little bit of money from camp, she might be able to pick some up if they had time.

"You're being awfully quiet, Izzy," Sora said to the ten year old boy, "Didn't you like living in Highton View Terrace?"

"I don't remember," the boy shrugged.

"How long did you live there?" she asked.

"Just for a little while," he said, "About six months."

"Wow," Tai said, turning to the boy who was sitting on a guard rail, "Why did your parents move away?"

"I don't know," he hopped down with a shrug.

"You're kidding," Joe said as he came over, drawing their attention, "If you don't know, then maybe I should tell you why."

"What do you mean, Joe?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, Joe, how could you know why Izzy's parents moved away from here?" Tai asked, "Did you know them, or something?"

"No," the blue haired boy denied, "No, I didn't know Izzy back then, but I did see what happened." As he spoke, a few police cars with their sirens on drove by.

"What is going on?" Mimi asked, seeing the procession.

"Trouble, and I bet it isn't the everyday stuff, either," Lucy said.

"Where there's trouble, there's Myotismon!" Tai exclaimed as he led the group in the direction the cop cars were going.

The group ran a short distance before they saw what was causing the ruckus. It was a giant mammoth stalking the streets, stomping on every car, ripping up every sign and street light.

"A monster digimon!" Matt shouted over the creatures thunderous roar.

"It's called Mammothmon," Izzy told them as he opened up his laptop, "He's a fully Digivolved digimon with the strength of a wooly mammoth. He shoots missiles he calls Tusk Crusher and he has an attack called Freezing Breath."

As the boy explained the digimon's parameters, a police car pulled up beside them, "Get out of here, kids! This is a danger zone!" the officer inside ordered them before turning back to his radio, "Come in, headquarters! Come in! It's an emergency! Can anyone hear me?" He tried turning the channel on the radio but nothing was different, "The radio's dead."

In the distance, Mammothmon's ears twitched as he heard the children and officer talking. He stopped and turned to face them, a growl in his throat.

"Wait a minute! I think he sees us!" Tai pointed out.

"Get out of here, now!" the cop ordered before he peeled out as he took off in his cruiser.

"And he's heading this way!" The wild haired boy finished his thought as the mammoth digimon roared and began to stomp toward them.

Koromon and Tsunomon growled back, as threatening as a couple of heads without bodies could be. They jumped out of their partners' arms, preparing to attack.

"That monster's fully Digivolved! You can't fight him!" Matt said.

"Leave everything to me," Biyomon said as she winged forward.

"Biyomon!" Sora called out.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" The fire bird launched itself into the air, gathering her energy, "_Meteor Wing!_" The fire slammed into the mammoth, but it was to no effect. One of the blasts even bounced off one of Mammothmon's tusks and blew up a trio of phone booths.

Sora gasped when she saw that, a memory sparking in her head from long ago about similar phone booths in this very district charred to crisp.

Mammothmon flipped a bus and Birdramon, but she dodged it and the vehicle exploded.

This time it was Izzy who reacted as he got a flash of a burnt out bus laying on the side of the road.

"_Tusk Crusher!_" The mammoth roared as it fired off two missiles from the end of it's tusks. Birdramon tried to dodge, but one clipped her shoulder and she began to spiral towards the ground a couple streets over. Mammothmon roared and stomped off after her. The kids took a shortcut and got to a foot bridge that would over look the battle.

"Birdramon!" Sora cried.

"There were two!" TK said as he stepped forward

"Huh?" Matt and the others turned to look at the eight year old.

"There were two monsters!" he told them.

"What are you talking about, TK?" Tai asked.

"Ah, man!" Matt said as he looked at his younger brother, "A long time ago, TK was insisting that he saw two monsters, and my mom was upset at him about it. I just assumed he imagined the entire thing."

"So, when did all this take place?" Izzy asked.

"Right here!" Sora exclaimed, "It happened right near this foot bridge!"

Tai was watching the battle, listening to the rest of the kids with one ear.

"_Tusk Crusher!_" part of the median in the middle of the road was blown up as the two digimon continued to fight.

"This is really strange," Joe commented.

"We gotta get off this bridge!" Tai shouted, leading the others away form the battle. Just in time, too, as another exploding tuck turned the bridge to rubble.

It was Lucy's turn to get a flash back now, seeing a broken bridge and monsters fighting. The shapes were really familiar, but she just couldn't clear the darkness from her mind.

"I'm getting deja vu all over again!" Mimi cried as they ran around a building to get a view of the fight again. They ended up running to an area just behind the broken walk way, but with a clear view of the fight.

Birdramon tried firing off another Meteor wing, but it still had no effect. The monster's fur wasn't even singed as another streak of fire bounced off and further damaged the bridge.

"This is exactly how it happened back then!" Joe said, his eyes wide as he watched the battle, "A giant ball of fire destroyed the bridge!"

"Something is definitely different," Matt said as they all watched the battle raged on, "I remember the fire breathing monster didn't fly. There had to be another one."

"You're right," Tai said, "There were two monsters fighting, but they were different than these two." They watched as Birdramon took Mammothmon's trunk in one of her talons, trying to do some kind of damage at all.

The mammoth digimon roared at her before firing off its secondary attack, "_Freezing Breath!_" The blast was so cold that it actually encased Birdramon's head, neck and shoulders in a thick coating of ice. The fire bird fell to the ground right near the children, screeching in pain, completely destroying the walkway now.

"Birdramon!" Sora cried, running up to the digimon, Tai and Koromon right beside her.

"Sora?" her partner asked.

Sora's compassion for her digimon's struggle caused her crest to start to glow again and the power of the Crest of Love began to fill every vein in the fire bird, giving her the energy to Digivolve.

"Birdramon, Digivolve to Garudamon!" A blast of fire covered the bird for a moment before it turned into the towering form of Garudamon.

"_Tusk Crusher!_" Missiles flew from the end of Mammothmon's tusks again.

Garudamon didn't even think about it, she just cupped her hands over Tai and Sora to protect them, ducking down and taking the blasts herself. Luckily, her form was powerful enough now that they didn't even phase her.

She backed up after the attack, moving her hands away to find that Tai had pulled himself and Sora to the ground, lying over her protectively. They sat up slowly and Sora was holding her wildly shaking Digivice at the fore while Tai's eyes lost focus on the digimon in front of him.

"Garudamon," Sora breathed. The giant bird humanoid nodded it's head at her.

'_The fire breathing monster I saw. Greymon!_' Tai remembered being in a similar position with his little sister, four years ago. He had held himself over her, the two of them wearing their pajamas. The fight had happened at night, then. Greymon was fighting on their side. '_It was Greymon and another digimon!_'

"Sora!" He said to the girl he was sitting next to, "It was Greymon!"

The kids all gasped as they realized he was right. They remembered it now. Greymon was there. Him and another digimon.

Garudamon stood up and took to the air. She dodged another Tusk Crusher, mounting the mammoth and riding it like a bucking bull. She held him by the ears and guided him away from the kids, making sure they weren't hurt.

"Four years ago is the day Koromon came to my house and Digivolved to Greymon," Tai told them as they watched the fight between Garudamon and Mammothmon, "He was fighting a birdlike digimon. After the fight, they disappeared."

Garudamon grabbed her opponent by tusk and trunk and began to lift him into the sky. Once they were high enough, she let it go, watching as it roared in fear as it fell back first to the ground. To help it get their faster, she powered up her special attack.

"_Wing Blade!_" The fiery, bird shaped attack slammed into Mammothmon, making him hit the ground faster and harder. He had time enough for one more growl of anger before he dissolved into data.

Garudamon then de-Digivolved back into Yokomon again, falling into Sora's arms who laughed happily to have her partner back and safe.

"After the fight that day, Greymon and the other digimon disappeared," Tai said to the rest of the kids who had gathered around him in the after math of the battle. The entire area was ripped up and destroyed. It was a miracle that none of the nearby buildings had taken any critical damage.

"Exactly," Izzy nodded, "somehow the digimon were involved all along."

"That's why my little sister already knew Koromon," the wild haired boy said, holding the little digimon in his arms, "Kari met him back on that day."

"You met her?" Patamon asked.

"It must have been a different Koromon," the digimon in question said, "But I have a strange feeling when I first met Tai that we had met somewhere before."

"Listen, it's the cops!" Joe cried, "They'll ask a ton of questions, they'll blame us for all this! I'm too young to go to the big house!"

It seemed that, when they heard the sirens approached, the others decided they agreed with the tallest member of their group. They all turned and ran before they were spotted by the police and emergency response team sent out to stop Mammothmon and help people.

Once they had run far enough away, hiding in a nearby park, Izzy began to speak, "You know, I always thought it was kind of strange that, out of all of the kids at camp, we were the only ones chosen to go to Digiworld. I knew it couldn't just be coincidence. Somehow we were all connected by some common event. Today I discovered what that even was."

"We all took french in school?" Mimi asked, not connecting the dots.

"No!" Izzy said to her, "Four years ago, we were all living at Highton View Terrace at the same time. And all of us saw those two digimon fight."

"Then the Ninth Digidestined saw the digimon, too," Matt concluded.

"Right! The person who's the Ninth Digidestined had to be there as well," the tech genius agreed.

"What if Myotismon has found the kid already?" Joe asked, "I mean, he's been here all day, and if the kid lived here four years ago, maybe they're still here."

"I don't think so," Motimon interjected, "Mammothmon wouldn't be making all this commotion if they'd already found the Ninth Digidestined child. Myotismon is still searching. I say the child is still out there. Or maybe he moved, like you guys."

The kids all looked off into the distance, as if there might be a sign that would point them to the final member of their group.

Slowly, Tai's brow furrowed in determination, "We'll find him. Before Myotismon!"

"You bet we will," Lucy agreed, "That old bat brain will just have to suffer the consequences of it!"

"The Ninth Digidestined," the wild haired boy said lowly, "Maybe he's someone we know."

+-9

Some few miles away, in the Kamiya apartment, a little device activated. Unseen by anyone, as there was no one near by to witness it, it beeped a few times and flashed a map of the area, showing the distance of the other Digivices from itself on a simple map.

The kids were closer than they'd realize for a long time.

Chapter Twenty Six: End.

Please Enjoy.


	27. Chapter 27 Almost Home Free

Chapter Twenty Seven: Almost Home Free

"So, you're telling me Garudamon has appeared in the human world," Myotismon stated to Demidevimon. The two of them and a number of Myotismon's bats were to be found in the hollowed out lair under the parking garage in Highton View Terrace.

"Right," the bat digimon nodded to him, "And the eight children have returned to the real world as well, Master."

A frown crossed the vampires face as he glared down at his minion, "And the Ninth Child has not been found yet." Again, it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Eh, no, Malignant One, not quite yet," the frown deepened and Demidevimon rushed to say, "But any minute now, guaranteed!" he bowed deeply, hoping not to get the bats again, "We're, uh, widening the search pattern, even as we speak."

+-9

A small figure hopped elegantly across roof tops near the Odaiba district. It turned out to be Gatomon as she landed in a childrens' play park. She hid behind one of the adult seating booths and checked her copy of the Crest, but there was no response.

In Shinjuku, a magician dressed in a baggy tan body suit, brown gloves and boots, blue cape and pointy hat. He had a staff in his hand that was topped with a golden sun. The collar of his body suit hid the lower half of his face and his eyes were nearly completely covered by the spikes of blonde hair that weren't tied back.

Children laughed and marveled as the magician threw a red balloon in the air. It popped as soon as it left his hands and turned into a flock of white doves that flew away. As the awed at his tricks he turned away from them, pulling a copy of the Crest from his pocket. Not even a wiggle for anyone in the group.

Also in Shinjuku, an exceptionally tall man in a thick trench coat, green bucket had and black pants with steel toed boots was watching a group of children being led around by more adults. He also had a copy of the crest. And yet again there was no response.

In a river, somewhere around the Shinjuku district a white blob could be seen moving through the water. On its back was yet another fake Crest. It didn't even slow down as it passed by several boats, not even a mote of light coming off the trinket.

+-9

"If that kid's anywhere to be found, we'll find him," Demidevimon told his master, "We're looking everywhere, air, land and sea! No problem!"

"Meanwhile," Myotismon said, his frown growing more fierce, "we are not the only ones looking for him, are we?" it was his first question of the day and it was rhetorical, "You dolt! Make sure that those children don't find him first!"

"Got it, master!" the bat digimon yelped, bowing before the tyrant before taking wing and leaving as quickly as possible to do the vampire's bidding.

+-9

Back in Highton View Terrace, the Digidestined and their partners were standing about and deciding what to do.

"I can not imagine that the ninth member of our group still lives in this area," Izzy told the crew, "Mammothmon's rampage would have surely driven the person out of hiding and Myotismon's agents would have struck."

"How do we know they didn't?" Joe said, panic coming over his face, "How do we know that mister tall, dark and super scary doesn't have the kid already?"

"Simple," the tech genius said to the older boy, "If that was true, we would not be able to sit here discussing our next step. Part of a sound tactic for domination over a localized area is to retrieve and destroy any materials or resources that could harm you."

"Exactly!" the blue haired boy exclaimed, thinking Izzy was proving him right.

"And that's what he's doing now. The second stage to such an assault is to conduct extreme shows of force to coerce the average citizens into surrendering peacefully. As there have been no reports of creatures other than Mammothmon going on rampages, we can safely assume that the Ninth Child ha yet to be retrieved by our enemy."

"You know," Lucy said, "just wondering here, but how many of us live over in Odaiba now?" immediately, six hands went into the air. All except TK's actually.

"My dad and I live there," Matt said in explanation, "My mom and TK live in another district nearby."

"But the rest of us live in Odaiba, right?" the pink haired girl asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Joe shrugged, having calmed down quite a bit since he realized that, as yet, the ninth kid was safe, "What about it?"

"I get it!" Sora said, stepping up now, "Four years ago, when digimon first came here, we were all living right here in Highton View Terrace. Now, when they're coming through again, most of us live in Odaiba. Do you think that the Ninth Child could be there as well?"

"The idea does have merit," Izzy nodded, "We also have no other clues as to where the child might be."

"Alright!" Tai said with a grin, "Odaiba, here we come!"

"Great," Mimi said, "But before we do that, do you think we could stop for a snack before we go looking?"

"There's no time!" Tai said, "We've got to get to Odaiba and find the ninth kid before somebody else does!"

"How will we get there?" the girl asked, "Do you think there are any fast food places along the way?"

"Would you knock it off about the food?" the wild haired boy groaned, "Anyway, we've only got enough money for our subway tickets."

"Subway?" Joe asked, "Oh, well, my parents won't let me ride the subway by myself."

"You're not by yourself! Now, come on!" Tai said. There had been enough stalling, he decided. He started to lead the way into the station, the others being forced to follow or lose him as well.

"Are subways like regular trains?" Mimi asked as they moved over to a map and a few ticket machines that would help them figure out where to go, "I mean, do they have snack cars?"

"Just drop it!" the wild haired boy finally snapped, "And stick together, everybody. It can get kind of confusing down here."

Joe stood before the railway map, looking at the lines going through all the districts of Tokyo, "I just hope Myotismon has as much trouble reading this map as I do." He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Mimi and Lucy were next to him. The girl in the pink hat was turning her head to one side, not making anymore sense of the map than the young man to her right. Lucy looked to be tracing lines with her eyes, silently mouthing the names of stations.

"Okay," Mimi said eventually, turning away from the map and an uncertain look on her face, "what do we do now? Besides starve to death."

"I'm just figuring it out," Izzy told them. Joe and Mimi turned to see the young genius typing away on his computer, "Okay, that'll work. The fastest route to Odaiba is take the number twelve train to-"

"Nakano," Lucy interrupted, "Then we transfer to Maranuchi, after that we get on the Ginza line, ending us up at Shinbashi station," she pointed to a point on the map.

"Uh, yes, that's right," Izzy said, a little impressed, "How did you figure that out?"

"Maps are easy," the girl smiled, "All you have to do is find out where you are," she pointed to the location of the Hikarigaoka station on the map, "then you can figure out where you need to go," she pointed to the Shinbashi station again, "It's easy as looking around at street signs in a city. They name and number everything, so you can always tell exactly where you are."

"That's cool, Lucy," TK said to her.

"Yeah," Skymomon said from her shoulder, "I couldn't make sense out of any of that."

"Me neither," Joe added with a grin, "I think you should give lessons."

"Thanks," the pink haired girl smiled, her cheeks coloring a little at all the praise she was receiving.

"Well," Tai said as he approached one of the machines nearby, "it sounds simple enough to me. Now, we just have to figure out the right fare."

Koromon hopped up onto the machine beside Tai as he looked at it curiously, "What's that, Tai?" he asked as the boy slid a coin into the slot and pressed a button, "What are you getting?"

"A ticket," the boy explained, "You can't ride the train without one," he held up the orange slip of paper that would allow him to get on the number twelve train.

"What's a ticket?" Palmon asked.

"What's a train?" Patamon thought was a good question.

In response, the two of them were shushed by Joe, "Come on, guys, not another word out of you from now on," he placed his hands on his hips as he explained it, "We don't want anybody seeing you, then asking a bunch of questions we don't want to explain the answers to."

"Yeah," Sora agreed, looking specifically at Yokomon in her arms, "While we're here, you've got to pretend to be toys, or stuffed animals. But remember to keep still, and no fidgeting."

"Here's an idea," the little pink thing said, "I'll be one of those dolls you told me about! The kind where you squeeze them and they go 'Wah! Wah! Wah!'"

"Be a doll that doesn't talk!" the girl ordered.

+-9

With little difficulty, and only a few close calls, they all purchased their tickets and got to the landing for the trains. Skymomon was actually very good at acting like nothing more than a monkey shaped back pack. If Lucy didn't know any better, she'd actually say her partner was sleeping with her eyes open.

"It's some kind of cave," Koromon said as he looked around.

"I don't like being underground," Tsunomon added, looking around as well.

"Hey!" Matt scolded in a whisper, "Put a lid on it."

"_Attention. Attention. Number twelve train now arriving at platform seven._"

"What?" the digimon in Tai's arms asked, "Where'd that voice come from?"

"You heard it?" Matt's partner queried, "Then it's not just inside my head."

The sound of a train rumbling down the tracks filled the platform and it was easy to see the headlights of the passenger transportation coming right towards them.

"Something's coming!" Koromon warned.

"Look at those glowing eyes!" Tsunomon exclaimed, "It's one of Myotismon's goons!" The two little digimon jumped down onto the tracks to try an fight the oncoming monster. But it wasn't a digimon. It was a subway train. And it was coming right for them, without the intent to stop.

"Watch out!" Tai cried.

"Hey!" Matt was right beside him. Fear for the safety of their partners was filling them both.

Terror was also in the minds of the two little digimon as they screamed at the top of their lungs at the oncoming mass of metal and lights.

Matt and Tai were standing there, their entire bodies tensed with anxiety as they watched the train obscure their view of their partners. Tai was silently praying that the little guys were able to flatten themselves out and the train could pass harmlessly over them.

After a few seconds, the train moved out of the way, and they saw the two little digimon sticking to the wall opposite the platform. The whole group breathed a sigh of relief at that.

The two boys quickly retrieved the digimon, who were both feeling a little faint, and got on the train to the next station.

Once seated, Tai turned to his partner, whispering so only their group could hear on the crowded car, "We can't take you guys anywhere!" he ground his knuckles into the side of Koromon's head for a moment getting a whimper from the little guy.

As this was going on, a woman with a baby was making her way down the aisle of the subway car. The baby was crying and fussing.

"Hey," she said with a kind smile, bouncing the baby, "hush now."

Sora saw this and stood up, "Here," she said, gesturing to the place she'd just vacated, "Take my seat."

"Huh?" The woman looked at the twelve year old for a moment, "Oh, thank you!" She smiled brightly then sat down on the bench. The baby was still crying, but the woman was still just calmly talking to him with her eyes closed, "Isn't that nice? We've been on our feet all day, haven't we?"

The baby stopped crying suddenly. He was looking very intently at Yokomon. Or, to be more precise, the curled thing sticking up out of the flower on the top of her head. He smiled his baby smile as he reached up and grabbed the thing and started pulling on it.

Sora balked for a moment, not sure what to do, but knowing that it couldn't be comfortable for her partner, "Uh, excuse me," she finally said to the mother.

"Huh?" she opened her eyes and saw what was happening, "What are you doing now?" she asked the baby, placing her hand very gently over his own and trying to tug it's grip loose, "No," In respone the baby frowned and began pulling harder than ever. The other kids and digimon could only watch this in mounting horror. "No, honey, let go now. That's the girl's toy." It was no good. The baby just kept pulling. It was getting to the point that Sora was having a little keeping Yokomon in her arms. "Come on. Honey," the woman was beginning to strain a little not to be annoyed with her child. He was just a baby after all.

"Ow," Motimon grimaced, "That's got to hurt."

"Come on, honey, let go of the girl's toy before you break it," the mother tried again. The baby would not be dissuaded though. He wanted that stringy, curly thing, and he wanted it Now! He tugged harder than ever and poor Yokomon finally reached her breaking point.

"Hey!" her first shout attracted the attention of the entire train, "Will you let go of me!?"

Silence.

Sora began to sweat, the rest of the group stared at her and Yokomon, eyes wide. They didn't know it, but they were mimicking pretty much everyone else on the train.

It worked, though, the baby did let go of Yokomon.

"I guess my toy didn't like when you pulled on it," Sora said, hoping and praying for some sort of miracle excuse to explain the talking toy.

A little boy in a striped shirt jumped to his feet in front of his dad and pointed at Sora and Yokomon dramatically, "You hear that? That stuffed animal talked!" Not that anyone really needed that pointed out to them.

Sora continued to sweat it out for a moment before a brilliant plan filtered into her brain.

She smiled wide and said, a little louder than necessary, "Ah, it worked! All that practice is paying off! Fooled 'em, didn't we?" she pulled Yokomon up closer to her face so she could whisper very quickly to her, "Hush. Just keep quiet and play along." she then said, loudly, "Come on, the baby pulled your hair cause he likes you, that's all!" she then did a reasonable imitation of Yokomon's voice and hardly moved her mouth as she said, "Oh, really?" she then switched back to her voice, "There's no reason to bite the poor thing's head off!" she turned her digimon to face the baby and did her voice again, "I'm very sorry I shouted."

The effect was immediate. With a mundane explanation for an impossible action, most of the train accepted it for fact. The baby was laughing and clapping his hands. Extremely amused. He knew the little pink thing was interesting!

The father of the boy in the striped shirt just grinned at his boy and explained what was going on, "See that, son, she's just making it _look_ like the doll is talking. It's called Ventriloquism. She's pretty good."

The rest of the group was still on edge, waiting for something to go wrong. The rest of the train actually began commenting on the girl's apparent talent. The kids let out a sigh of relief for a moment. Sora just smiled happily, glad that it had worked.

"I want one!" that got them looking at the little boy in the striped shirt. He was tugging on his father's shirt and pointing at Yokomon, "Give me that toy! I want that doll!" Sora began to panic again, this could turn out very bad again, "If I don't get one right now, I'll start screaming at the top of my lungs!"

The man shushed his son, then stood up to talk to Sora, "Excuse me, young lady, can I ask where you bought that doll? I need one, right away," he told her.

"Uh, where I bought it?" she parroted. Again, the other kids and digimon were watching the spectacle, not sure what they should do to help.

"It's not that hard a question, is it?" the man asked, "Come on, you'll be doing me a big favor! Where'd you find it?"

Again, Sora found herself quite uncomfortably in the spotlight. Her mind whirled with thoughts, useless thoughts. Things like how would Chuck Norris handle this situation? Would french fries tasted better with lemonade? Could a pig digimon fly? All that, but nothing immediately useful.

"_This is the Nerima station. The Nerima station._"

The intercom voice would save the day.

"Oh," Sora gasped as the train came to a slow stop, "The Nerima department store!" she yelled in a panic.

"What? Nerima? Thank, miss! Come on, son!" The two of them dashed off the train followed by the rest of the passengers. They all wanted a look at the toy department there. The mother with the baby got up as well, but much more slowly, suggesting she actually lived there.

She smiled at Sora as she stepped toward the exit, "Thanks again." She left then, both she and her baby in a better mood.

"Good bye," Yokomon said just as the doors closed. Thankfully, everyone but their group had vacated the car, so no one was there to catch it.

Sora let out a heavy breath as she collapsed back into her seat. The rest of the kids were like minded. Letting out their own simultaneous sighs of relief.

The day was actually beginning to catch up to them. They couldn't force their eyes to open again.

"Wow," Sora breathed, "That was a close one."

"Pretty weird how nuts that kid went over Yokomon," Tai said.

"If we don't find the Ninth Child, we could go into the-" Joe began.

"Toy business?" Sora asked.

"How much longer?" TK asked, audibly tired.

"Who knows. Someone wake me when we get there," Mimi said, leaning back in her seat. Lucy, right beside her with Skymomon in her lap, was holding the monkey close as her breathing began to slow.

"Yeah, me too," Matt said.

"What's the name of the stop where we're getting off again?" The youngest member of the group asked.

"We get off at Nakano," Izzy said, just as tired.

"Okay," the little boy breathed, "Nakano."

That would be the last thing any of the children would say for nearly an hour. They all fell asleep rather quickly, thanks to the rocking of the train and the sound of it moving over the tracks. It wasn't even ten minutes after TK asked that they passed right by the Nakano station without a single human kid waking up.

Lucy in particular was very deep asleep. Nothing short of someone forcing her awake could get her to stop her little snooze. Too bad that everyone aside from Patamon and Palmon were asleep during the stop at Nakano, and too bad they had told the digimon to be quiet no matter what.

"_Shinjuku. This stop. Shinjuku. End of the line. Please exit the train._"

Sora slowly stirred awake as she heard that announcement. But that couldn't be right, could it? They were supposed to be getting off at Nakano, and that was some ways back. They'd only been sleeping for a couple minutes, right?

Right beside her, Tai was slowly waking up as well.

"Everyone, wake up!" Sora exclaimed, "We missed our stop, we're in Shinjuku!"

"Wha?" the wild haired boy intoned as he rubbed his eyes, "That can't be right."

"We have to get off!" the girl said.

The rest of the group was pretty quick to wake up when she said that. All except Lucy.

"Lucy," Skymomon said softly, "Lucy, wake up."

"Skymomon, you're not supposed to be talking," Palmon whispered, drawing Mimi's attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Lucy wont wake up," the monkey said, "and I can't move to shake her or anything or we'll get in trouble."

"Oh, is that all?" The girl reached over and shook the girl by her shoulder, "Lucy, you have to wake up now."

Groggily, she opened one eye, a half hearted glare on her face, "What time is it?"

"I don't know," Mimi said, tilting her head to one side, "But I'm sure we're not where we're supposed to be."

Lucy stared at the older girl silently for a moment then stood up and began to stumble her way forward, off the train. The others were quick to follow. They found a map, and to their dismay, they were far away from their stop.

"How'd we miss our stop?" Mimi compained.

"You slept right through it," Patamon told them simply.

"Patamon, you were awake?" TK asked, unbelieving.

"Yeah, sure," the little guy nodded.

"What's wrong with you? Why didn't you wake us up?" the little boy demanded.

"How could I?" the digimon said back, "You told us not to make a sound."

The entire group slumped at that. Wouldn't you know it? They do something to protect their digimon from discovery and it goes and stalls their trip home.

"What now?" Joe asked, holding Gomamon in his arms, "Do we go back to our stop?"

"No," Izzy said, "It's out of our way, now, but I think we can change trains here and be okay." He and Joe began to move towards another platform, followed by the others.

"How much longer?" Koromon asked loudly, "I'm getting awful hungry, Tai."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Tsunomon said from under Matt's arm.

"Famished," Palmon added pitifully.

"It can wait," Tai sighed, "Hey, I'm hungry too, ya know?"

"I keep visualizing cheeseburgers," Mimi said sadly, "I don't even eat cheeseburgers."

Tai stopped, getting the five kids behind him to stop as well. He turned to face them, hoping to get more opinions on this.

"It has been a long time since any of us have eaten, "Matt reasoned, "And our digimon get weak when they're hungry."

The wild haired boy considered what Matt said as he looked around at the group. Not a single eye was filled with the energy necessary for continuing on without food.

"Okay," he sighed, giving in.

Mimi, who had been complaining about her hunger since they first boarded the train was very happy about that. Her smile was bright and sunny. The good mood spread to the others too.

"Hey," Lucy said, "where did Izzy and Joe go?"

The other kids looked around for a moment, realizing she was right. The two boys in question were nowhere in sight, and that meant they could be anywhere.

"Maybe they went ahead to scout for a good restaurant," Mimi suggested.

"I guess it's possible," Tai agreed, "we'll just have to go and find out. Come on, everyone."

Tai led them out to street level. They looked around, trying to spot a hint of the two missing members of their group, but they couldn't see a single hair of either boy in the large crowds around Shinjuku.

What they did find, however, was a restaurant. It was a fast food joint and had relatively cheap prices on their food.

"Let's go in," TK said with a smile on his face, "I can't wait to eat some french fries!"

"I'm all for that," Matt agreed, "but what about Izzy and Joe?"

"I'm sure they'll find us," Mimi said, waving away his worry as she walked towards the entrance to the restaurant, "We'll take a window seat to make it easier to spot us, and that should be that."

The rest of the kids looked at each other, wondering if this was really alright to do. Their stomachs growled and they grimaced. It would have to be.

"Here," Lucy said, holding her hand out, "Give me enough money for two of the big combos, and I'll put away until we find them again so they can eat something, too." Tai and the others could agree to that so they put the desired amount of money in her hand. She stashed it in the front pocket of her hoodie and they all piled into the restaurant.

Five minutes later, the six of them and their digimon were sitting in a window booth, eating their food, feeding their partners freely since they were out of view of the rest of the eatery.

"I feel like a new woman!" Mimi exclaimed happily, eating another fry. TK was just laughing in relief, his belly no longer grumbling at him.

"I know what you mean," Lucy said before taking a vicious bit off of her burger. Skymomon had her own burger that she was happily chowing down on.

"Man!" Tai exclaimed between bites, "Tastes great!"

"Yum-ilicious!" the pink hat wearing girl agreed with a smile.

"Boy, I sure needed this," Sora said.

"You people are lucky!" Tsunomon said happily, taking another couple bites of the burger in front of him, "Yum, yum! You get to eat this every day!"

"A little louder, why don't ya?" Matt scolded his partner for talking in public again, "There's a coupld of people that aren't staring yet."

"Actually," Mimi said as she looked around, "nobody noticed yet. But Matt's right, you should-" she interrupted herself with a gasp as she spotted Joe and Izzy coming up the stairs to the restaurant level.

"Joe, Izzy!" TK said, "It's about time!"

"Hey!" Tai greeted, "What are you guys waiting for? Order something!" he told the two of them with a smile.

"How," Joe frowned, "when you guys have got all the money, huh?"

"Chill out, Joe," Matt said as he sipped on his drink, "Lucy's got you covered."

"Indeed," the pink haired girl said as she held out a hand to Joe and Izzy. The blue haired boy looked at her for a second before holding his hands under her closed fist. She proceeded to drop enough money for the two boys to order themselves lunch as well.

"You," the blue haired boy began, his eyes beginning to tear up, "You guys are the best!" he quickly ran off to order the food for himself and Izzy.

"That's weird," the tech genius commented as he checked his Digivice. It showed the simplistic map with the several red dots that were the other kids and their devices. "Now the Digivice is responding," he stated.

Sora turned to him, "So? Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, it wasn't working at all when I tried it in the station," he told her.

"Really?" she asked, taking a sip of her soda.

"I guess in this world, they only function at a close distance," the boy theorized.

"That's great, but meanwhile, what are we going to do now?" Mimi asked.

"We start walking," TK said simply, "They wont let us back on the train without any money."

Matt was sitting right next to his little brother and had his hand on his chin as he spoke, "I'm sure not looking forward to walking all that way."

"Hah!" Tai leaned forward and pointed a thumb up at himself, "I know of a way to get a ride, and it wont cost us a penny! Just leave everything to me!"

"Ah, great," Matt drawled, "you're a genius."

+-9

After everyone had eaten their fill, they walked down to the street. Tai stepped off the curve. The rest of the kids ducked down behind the bushes.

"Why are we hiding?" Lucy asked.

"If Tai does something dumb, we wont be associated with him if they can't see us," Matt explained.

"Gee, thanks for the support," Tai grumbled back at them before he turned back to the road.

What followed was one of the oddest things Lucy had ever seen. The boy jumped about, kicking his legs and waving his arms wildly. He was screaming something about getting the police to take him back to Odaiba to fetch his cat out of a tree.

"The police!?" Matt exclaimed, "That's his brilliant idea?"

"If the police do stop, they'll lock him up for disturbing the peace," Izzy said. Lucy nodded. That's what she thought was more likely to happen.

A horn honked at the wild haired boy and he just barely dodged out of the way of the vehicle.

"Hey!" He shouted at the driver as they moved down the road without even thinking of stopping, "I had the right of way!"

"Looking good, Tai," the blonde boy said sarcastically.

"Good grief," Joe deadpanned, "At this rate we could be sitting her all day."

"And night," Izzy added.

"Then you try to get us a ride!" Tai whirled on the three of them, pointing angrily.

"Who? Me?" the blue haired boy asked, "No way!"

"How about you, Matt? You think you're so smart!" the wild haired boy challenged agressively.

Matt stood up and walked over to where the other boy had stood as he did his funny little dance to try and get a vehicle to stop. And he just stood there. His fist clenched.

"Well?" Tai urged him.

A blush began to spread across the blonde boy's face, his fist clenching tighter as he stared at the oncoming traffic.

"I'm waiting!" the leader exclaimed.

After another couple of seconds, the boy lowered his head in shame, closing his eyes as he turned back to the rest of the group.

"Not so easy, is it, Matt?" Tai told him.

"Well, at least my cat's not stuck in a tree!" The blonde boy yelled back, holding his fist before him.

This only served to draw laughter from the kids. Even Matt himself laughed at the absurdity of what he just said. They were all still chuckling when Joe and Izzy took their turns simultaneously.

They apparently thought Tai had the right idea with his funky dance, and began one of their own, yelling out for a taxi the entire time. It only inspired more laughter from the kids

Surprisingly enough, one actually stopped for them. The man opened the back door to the two children.

"You kids want a cab?" he asked them.

"Yeah!" the two boys said at once.

"You got any money?" was the next question.

"No," the sighed. The door closed and the car drove off.

The kids laughed again. Joe and Izzy just heaved another sigh as their shoulders slumped.

Finally it was Mimi, Lucy and Sora's turn. Just as they were getting ready to go out there and try to call for a ride, a young man, about sixteen or seventeen, driving a blue van stopped. He had bleach blonde hair that came down to his neck and tan skin.

"Sora?" he called, turning down his radio.

"It's my cousin!" the girl in question exclaimed, "Hi, Dwayne!"

"You need a lift?" he asked her.

"Oh, yeah!" Mimi exclaimed as she, Lucy and Sora struck victory poses.

"Alright," the blonde said in Surfer shiek, "I guess you can all get in, but it'll be a tight fit,"

"That's alright, Dwayne," Sora told her cousin, "We're just happy to have a ride! Come on, everyone!"

"Here, little lady," Dwayne said with a charming smile as he opened the passenger side door to Mimi, "you can sit up front with me."

"Oh, thank you," the girl said gracefully.

The others piled into the van with their digimon playing the part of stuffed animals again. In the very back row, it was Tai, TK, Matt and Joe. In the middle seat it was Sora, Lucy and Izzy. Of course, in the front seats it was Mimi and Dwayne.

They began to move down the road at a good clip, but the boy looked a little annoyed to have the entire group of kids in his car. He was looking specifically at the boys in the rear view mirror as he started to speak to them.

"Okay, here's the rules," he started, "I'm gonna say this once, so listen!"

"Yeah?" They all said together.

"Dig it. You're only here 'cause Sora is my cousin," he told them, "You're like her luggage."

"Yeah, we're like her luggage," they all monotoned back to him.

"And luggage doesn't make a sound, you got me? Or it's liable to get thrown out of the car, right?" he smirked.

"Right," they all nodded, "Luggage doesn't make a sound."

When they came to a stop at a red light, Dwayne pulled a pack of candy out of his pocket and held out a piece of it to Mimi, "You want some gum? Sugarless."

"Sure," the girl smiled, taking the piece of pink candy.

"How about you, Sora, Lucy," he held out some for the other two girls.

"Yeah, thanks, Dwayne," Sora said as she excepted the candy. She noticed that Yokomon seemed curious about it, so she smiled as she gave it to her digimon when the teen wasn't looking.

Lucy took one as well, "Thanks, man," she grinned. She offered hers to Skymomon, but the monkey shook her head subtly, so she began to chew the piece given to her. Mimi also fed heard to Palmon while the teen boy was looking at the light. They missed it as a magician in a blue pointy hat led a bunch of children across the street while carrying a mass of balloons.

"Hey, Sora," Tai whispered as the car started to move a gain, "I think your cousin is a major lame-o!"

"He's sort of the black sheep of the family, but he's giving us a lift, so be nice," she said back to the boy.

"I will, but just make sure he takes us to Odaiba," the boy replied.

+-9

Some distance away, Demidevimon was sitting on the railing of the viewing deck of a tourist boat.

"How did I ever get into this?" he sighed dramatically, "Knockin' myself out, trying to find some pipsqueak kid!" He looked out to the river, only glancing briefly at the Crest that wasn't glowing, "I got half a mind to chuck this whole, lousy job!" He closed his eyes then, turning his head a little downwards as his wings droopes, "But the Master might not like that." He sighed deeply again as the boat continued to float along.

In the Odaiba, Gatomon was still jumping around, having the same luck as usual in finding the Ninth Digidestined. She stopped for a moment, looked around, then jumped away again. This was getting very tedious.

+-9

"Hey, man," Lucy said, smiling at the music coming through the radio.

"'Sup, little lady?" Dwayne looked at her briefly in the mirror.

"Awesome tunes," she complimented his choice in radio stations.

"I know, right!" he grabbed the volume knob and twisted it higher.

The rock and roll music filled the van at nearly deafening levels. The rest of the kids were covering their ears in pain and discomfort, but Dwayne and Lucy were jamming out, nodding their heads in time to the beat, matching grins on their faces.

Mimi tried to say something over the music, but neither Dwayne nor Lucy could hear her. Heck, she could hardly hear herself.

"Excuse me!" She shouted, finally.

"Yo! What's up, babe?" the teen asked, a grin on his face.

"The radio's kind of loud!" She shouted, even still barely heard.

"The tunes are what?" he asked.

The frown on the girl's face was as fierce as the others had ever seen it for a moment before she took a deep breath and shouted over the sound of the music, finally loud enough to be heard.

"Looooouud!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"The radio's too loud?" he grinned obliviously.

"Maybe just a little!" she continued to yell, the only way she could be heard.

The boy smiled with a shrug as he turned it down. Everyone but Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had enjoyed the music.

"_Now for a news, update,_" the radio cut away from the song for a moment, going to a news broadcast, "_Officials have yet to find a clear explanation for the devastating explosion that rocked the Highton View Terrace apartments in the Nerima district earlier today._"

The kids gasped and began paying extra attention to the radio as the report went on.

"_Power in the area is still out, and the injured are still being counted. While official sources have offered no further information, there are several eye witness accounts. However, these accounts have only served to mystify investigators. The details of their accounts differ, but several of these eye witnesses agree that an elephant, and something described as a giant fire bird, were seen in the vicinity._"

"A giant what? A fire bird?" Dwayne laughed as he heard the broadcast, "You've gotta love the crazies in this town!"

"_A similar incident took place at the Highton View Terrace apartments four years ago. It is unknown if __there is any connection between the two._" As the new cast finished, something appeared to be wrong with Koromon. He was shaking and quivering on Tai's lap, his eyes clenched shut, and grunts of effort coming from him.

"What's the matter?" Tai asked. Another couple of grunts and the problem became apparent, "Hey! Stop the car!" he shouted as he jumped out of the way of the mess about to happen.

The van screeched to a halt on a bridge over water, the doors opened and everyone, Dwayne included, piled out of the car like it was on fire.

"Whoa! What is that!?" The teen asked, pointing at his back seat as the kids all moved over to the sidewalk. There, sitting on his back seat, was a little pink sludge pile. It looked like strawberry ice cream, but it was missing the cone and smelled nothing like a frozen treat.

"Koromon, you couldn't wait?" Tai scolded in whisper to this little digimon that was already blushing profusely in shame.

"Okay, who did it?" Dwayne growled, "Huh?" He turned to face the kids, clenching his fists before him, "Which one of you made a mess of my new seat covers!?" he roared at them.

The kids all kind of just gave him a blank look, not sure it was really _that_ big of a deal.

"I'm sorry," Tai said, bowing his head and raising his hand, "I-"

But he was quickly interrupted by Sora, "Right here!" She yelled over Tai' admittance, "I'm the one!" She knew that if Tai or the others aid it was them, there would be no way her cousin would take them all to Odaiba, but he might forgive her. "I'll clean it up! I'll even detail it for ya!"

The boy had a blank look of disbelief on his face when Sora told him she did that for a few moments before he threw his arm into the air with a yell, "Don't try covering up for these losers! Which one of 'em was it?" he eyed the group, his gaze not even straying to the girls, "You!" he singled out Joe, "Mister Peepers! It was you, wasn't it?"

Dwayne took a few steps forward and grabbed the front of Joe's shirt, lifting him up so his toes were scraping the ground.

"Hey!" Izzy cried, moving to defend his friend, "Let him go! He didn't do-"

"Back off," Dwayne just casually knocked the much smaller boy aside.

Normally, if the teen had pushed Izzy in that direction on any other day, he would have hit the guard rail. Unfortunately, there was maintenance being down on that section that week. The only thin to stop people from falling in were some yellow hazard signs. They weren't enough to stop Izzy's backwards momentum and he fell off the bridge.

Dwayne shouted in fear as he realized what he did, the others not far behind him.

"Izzy, no!" Tai shouted. The boy in question screamed as he fell.

"I'm coming, Izzy!" Motimon called, ignoring the no talking rule. He figured they'd all forgive him after he saved the boys life. "Motimon, Digivolve to Tentomon!" Once more in his red beetle form, he spread his wings and jumped off the bridge as well. "I've got you, Izzy!" he grabbed hold of the boy by his left foot.

"Thanks, Tento!" he called, still fearful as it appeared that they were decidedly not going any further away from the water.

Tentomon grunted as he did his best to lift hi partner back onto the bridge, "Ugh, you had to have the extra side of chilli fries, didn't you?"

And things were only about to get worse. A white shape began to emerge from the waters below. It was almost all white with black markings on it, and as it lifted out of the water the kids could see that it looked like a gigantic squid. It's two longest tentacles were tipped with three claws each and it had a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Hey, what's that?" Izzy asked.

"It's Gesomon!" Tentomon exclaimed in fear.

"It's what?" the upside down boy asked.

"Gesomon," The bug said the name again, "Take a bit of everything nasty that lives under water, stick them together and that's him!"

Dwayne was not like the kids he was carting around. He had not been around giant monsters for the last few months. He, quite reasonably, screamed in fear.

"You kids are on your own!" he shrieked, running away.

"Good riddance! You were a lousy driver anyway," Gomamon said, jumping into the waters below before he began to glow, "Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!"

"I think we'll just get out of the way," Tentomon said. He wasn't able to get Izzy back to the bridge, but he could certainly move him out of the line of fire.

Ikkakumon began to push the squid backwards through the water, away from his friends. In response, the digimon lashed its clawed tentacles at him.

"_Coral Crusher!_" It called out, smashing the limbs into the water when Ikkakumon dodged.

"_Harpoon Tornado!_" the sea mammal digimon fired off one of its horns, destroying Gesomon's left claw, pushing him back even further as he roared in pain.

"Holy cow! What's goin' on?" A man asked as he ran over to see what was happening. That was when the kids noticed the crowd gathering to watch the fight.

"Maybe they're advertising something," another man suggested.

"Advertising something? Get out of here," a guy said with a frown.

"Maybe they're shooting a movie," the second guy said.

"I don't see any cameras," the third rebuked.

"Oh, well, maybe they're just rehearsing," the second man finally suggested.

The fight attracted attention even from people in the buildings that had view of the river.

A pair of business men were next to a vending machine on one side of the river, one was already sitting down with his back to the monsters, the other was staring dumbly at the show going on in the waters.

"Rough day at work, huh?" the man on the bench asked.

The other man continued to stare at the fight for a few seconds, then sighed and shook his head, "Eh, you know, same old, same old."

As the crowd on the bridge watched, Ikkakumon tackled Gesomon into the depths of the river, sending up a huge plume of water.

"My money's on the big hairy one," one of the watchers said.

Dwayne, who'd only run as far as the other side of the bridge, was now growing curious. He stood to his feet and crossed the road to watch the fight below. Unfortunately, he only got there in time to see the waters calming down.

"Aw, they're gone!" one of the people exclaimed, "Too bad." No one noticed as a pendant with a pink charm on it floated away with the flow of the river.

"Did you guys see that?" Dwayne asked his cousin and her friends. When he didn't receive an answer, he looked around for them, but found neither hair nor hide of a single one of them. The only proof they were ever even there was the pile of pink sludge on his back seat. "Hey, where'd you go?"

+-9

Some distance away, the kids were riding on the back of Ikkakumon, or logs the digimon was pulling through the water. Lucy, Mimi and Sora were on his back with their digimon while Joe sat on his head, holding onto the big black spike that could become a ballistic missile. The other four were sitting on the log with their digimon held close.

The sun was beginning to set, proving that the day was finally beginning to end.

"Well," Matt began, "so much for a low profile."

"At least we got away from lame Dwayne, and we're all in one piece," Tai told him, looking on the bright side.

"He wasn't all bad," Lucy said, "I liked his taste in music, at least."

"You're kidding!" the wild haired boy exclaimed.

"Nope," Sora chirped, "You should have seen it. She was jammin' out just like my cousin. I think they were even doing it in sync!" she laughed.

"Well, it was a good song," the younger girl defended, but the grin on her face let them know she wasn't taking the teasing to heart.

Atop the digimon's head, Joe was grinning, proud of his partner.

"Nice work, Ikkakumon," he pumped a fist in the air, "You nailed him!" The sea monster digimon laughed at the praise, just glad he could help.

"Anyway," Tai said, "wouldn't you rather travel in the fresh air than under ground in that subway?"

"Oh yeah!" Sora nodded, "This is great!"

"And best of all," the wild haired boy continued, "it's free!"

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a familiar pair of yellow eyes.

"There's good news," Demidevimon said to himself, "Now that they've shown themselves, we can take care of 'em." He winged away before they could spot him, ready to go deliver the news to Myotismon.

"Next stop, home!" The kids cheered. Even Lucy. She couldn't wait to see her parents. It was gonna be good to talk to them. She only wondered if they'd understand when she told them that she had to go back to the Digiworld.

"Does anybody have something to eat?" Mimi asked.

Tai groaned, "Oh, Mimi! Not that again!"

"I was just asking," the girl told him.

The others laughed, the mood lightening further. Trouble may be afoot, but they were there to stop it. And once they found the Ninth Digidestined, nothing could stand in their way.

Chapter Twenty Seven: End.

Please Enjoy.


	28. Chapter 28 The Ninth Digivice

As of last Sunday, I will be taking one day a week off from writing this. More often than not, that day off will be Sunday. Circumstances will occasionally change this.

Chapter Twenty Eight: The Ninth Digivice.

"Defeated!" Myotismon barked, "You say those little punks beat Mammothmon and Gesomon?" He was, as usual in his coffin, waiting for the sun to fully go down. He was speaking to Demidevimon through a floating, bat shaped communicator with video.

"Right!" the little digimon told his boss, a grin on his face, "Gatomon really bungled it when she hooked up with those nincompoops! I guess she's no better than the rest of us!" he snickered, knowing he had gotten one over on the cat this time.

"Think that's funny?" Myotismon demanded, his tone promising pain.

"Of course not, boss!" Demidevimon was quick to say, hoping not to earn the vampires ire so soon.

"Then knock off the chatter and find the Ninth Child before I lose my patience," the evil digimon growled back.

"Aye, aye!" the bat digimon saluted with one wing, "Myotismon rules! You'll see!" He stashed the communicator and took to the skies. It was only a matter of time before that brat was found, and then the world, _both_ worlds, would be theirs for the taking! Demidevimon couldn't help the cruel laughter he let out as he imagined it. Surely, with so much wealth, Myotismon would spread it around to his most loyal subordinates.

+-9

When Ikkakumon landed in the harbor near Odaiba, the kids were ready for home. Lucy was ready to meet her parents. The others were decidedly not telling their parents about their digimon and the things that happened to them in Digiworld. Lucy didn't have that option. Not if she didn't want her parents to worry about her unnecessarily.

Izzy, Tai and Lucy were heading to their own homes nearby. Since they had all split off, she assumed that Joe and the others were heading to their homes, too.

For the moment though, Lucy was a little shocked to find herself following Tai.

"I'm guessing your apartment is in this general direction," the girl said to the boy when he looked at her funny for following him.

"Yeah," he nodded, "Just over there, actually." He pointed towards one building where each of the apartments had a great view of the river and the giant Ferris wheel.

Lucy smiled, "Apartment Five Oh Four," she told him.

Tai was stumped for a moment, then got what she was saying, "Thirteen Oh Six for us," he grinned back at the girl, "Ha, who would have guessed, all this time we lived in the same apartment building and never even knew it. Makes me wonder how close the others are."

"I dunno, but I've got a good question for you," Lucy looked up at the boy, a serious expression on her face.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I remember it all, now. The whole battle with Greymon against that monster bird. And I do remember a ninth kid being there, without a doubt," she explained.

"Really?" Tai's eyes widened, "Who was it, do you know?"

"Your little sister," she said simply, "I remember it. The two of you were being protected by Greymon. She had these cute pajamas on. Like a little koala. Seems to me, there's a strong possibility that she could be the Ninth Digidestined."

Tai's shock waned and he nodded, "I was thinking that myself. I mean, none of us were as close to the battle as Kari and me. It's... possible." He looked up at the apartment building that was still nearly a block away.

"Make sure to check," Lucy told him, "and be sure to call everyone if it is her."

"Will do," he told her, "I just hope she's feeling better after her cold. Last time I was here, she looked like she was still feeling it."

"I wonder what her partner will be like if she is the Ninth Child," Skymomon scratched her chin in though as she held on to Lucy's back, as usual.

+-9

"Here, Miko," the kind voice of Kari called the family cat from his hiding spot. She placed a bowl of cream down for him, smiling happily when he came over to enjoy it. The girl and cat were sitting in the bedroom she shared with Tai. Neither she nor the cat noticed a silver device with blue buttons and a blank screen sitting under the bunk bed.

"Hello, Kari, we're back!" the voice of her mother sounded through the apartment.

"Is everything alright, sweety?" the voice of her father came next and the sound of the door closing behind him.

"Hi!" she called back, happy to see her parents home, she walked out of her room to greet them, "Everything's just fine."

She would miss it as the device under her bed started to beep wildly.

Miko didn't though.

"What was wrong with grandma?" the little girl asked her father, who was ruffling her hair.

"She took a bit of a fall, that's all," Mister Kamiya told his daughter as he moved to grab a refreshment from the fridge.

In the bedroom, the cat was sniffing curiously at the device as the beeping it made increased.

"She sprained her ankle when she was out for a walk, but it's not serious," the man continued, pulling his favorite brand of drink from the fridge, "She has to stay in the hospital for the night and she's hoppin' mad because it cuts into her dancing lesson."

"That's grandma," she grinned, then handed her father a glass to pour his drink into, "Here."

"Thanks, sweet pea," he smiled at her, accepting the glass, pouring it out.

By this time, Miko had taken the Digivice into his mouth and walked out onto the balcony to play it it as a cat would.

"Grandma was worried about your cold," her mother said as she walked into the kitchen area, tying an apron with a frog print on the front on, "and that daddy should remember your coat next time." The man growled to himself.

"I feel back to normal, now," Kari told them.

Her father stopped his grumbling growl and looked at her, "You look much better, but let's just check and see." He placed his hand against his daughter's forehead, checking for an elevated temperature. He was glad to find nothing.

On the balcony, Miko was batting at the device, purring as it beeped. He didn't know if it was responding to him, but he was sure that it was something that would be fun. When he tapped it with his paw just strong enough to cause it to move, his eyes widened and he jumped back. He crouched down, ready to pounce at a moments notice.

"You feel about as cool as a cucumber," the man told his daughter. The girl smiled at him as if to say she was glad that he agreed. It was really boring being stuck inside all day. Even with the monsters on TV.

Finally, the temptation became too much. Miko pounced. His paws closed around the device. But it was too smooth and the metal left no place for his claws to stick in it. The device flipped up into the air and through the barred railing of the Kamiya apartment balcony. It fell all thirteen floors, back to the ground, in a hedge.

Miko watched all this happening and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was going to get in trouble for this. He was a good kitty. He knew he shouldn't have played with one of the human's toys, but he did anyway. And now he had to go get it. Darn it.

+-9

Eight floors below, on the opposite side of the building, Lucy stood before the door to her apartment. It had the Suzumebachi nameplate, little wasp painted on it to mock the meaning of their last name.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Skymomon asked in a whisper.

"I," the girl started, stopped, then tried again, "I've lived with these people for as long as I can remember, Sky. They raised me, fed me, clothed me. Loved me. Like I was their own. I never would have known if it weren't for the papers I found. How can I just go in there and tell them that, after we're done with Myotismon, I wont be coming back?"

The monkey looked from the little girl to the door, then back. She wasn't sure she understood all of the problem. But she could give her best guess of what was the right thing to do.

"If they really do love you like you say, then they'll understand, wont they?" the digimon asked, "I know I would."

"Thanks, Skymomon," the girl smiled softly, "I'll just have to try to explain it to them, the best I can."

She grabbed the handle and hesitated for a moment, then opened the door. Once inside, she smiled at seeing the familiar decorations of her family's apartment. On the wall just to her left was a poster of her father's favorite anime. On the right was a sheaf of paper covered in musical notes. The top of it read 'Ode To Joy'. That was her mom's favorite piece of music.

And there were the familiar shoes of her parents. Her father wore Converse, her mother wore regular tennis shoes. They were stashed, just to the side of the door, as usual. Lucy quickly kicked off her sneakers, placing them nearby and putting on her house shoes.

"Oh, Lucy, you're home," her mother's musical voice sounded over the room. The little girl looked up at the woman in question and found exactly what she was hoping and dreading.

Lucy's adoptive mother was a pretty woman, with short, curly brown hair. Her eyes were an ultra dark brown, bordering on black and her skin was soft to the touch. She loved music, but never tried to play professionally, and liked to wear dresses over pants. She was currently in a nice blue dress that had short sleeves.

"Did you say Lucy was home?" A man's voice came over the air. He stepped out of the kitchen, a pie in hand. The man had black hair that he kept long and tied back. He had glasses over his bright brown eyes, and his skin was extra tanned from his work outside.

"Mom, dad," she smiled for a moment before she dived forward, pulling them both into a strong hug, "I missed you guys so much."

"Wha-" her mother, name of Jenifer, was a little stunned but held an arm around her daughter, wondering what was going on.

Her father was just as confused, but somewhat more talkative, "Not that I mind the affection, sweets, but we just saw you this morning. Was camp really that bad?"

Lucy pulled out of the hug and looked up at them, a sad smile in her eyes as realized this was the moment she was dreading.

"I... it's a little complicated," she heaved a heavy sigh, "I'm going to tell you a story, one that you probably wont believe, so I'll prove it's real before I get to the meat of the story," she looked over her shoulder at what her parents though was a cute backpack she might have borrowed from a friend and said, "Skymomon, if you would?"

"Hi!" The monkey chirped, letting go of Lucy and lifting into the air under her own power, "I'm Skymomon! I'm a digimon, and Lucy is my partner!" she looked at the human girl, "She helps me Digivolve!"

There was a sudden thump as a body hit the floor.

"Donovan!?"

Looking, they found that Lucy's father had apparently fainted, the pie he was holding making a mess of his shirt.

+-9

The door to the Kamiya apartment opened again, and an unexpected face came through the door.

"I'm back!" he called out through the living space, "Hi!"

"Tai?" his mother came over, "Why are you here?" The two of them didn't really pay attention as Miko darted out of the apartment with a purpose in his cat mind.

The boy slipped his shoes off as he said, "Camp was canceled because it snowed."

"Snow?" the woman intoned, "Who would have thought, at this time of year? The weather is getting so unpredictable these days," she then noticed the odd pink thing that her son was holding and asked, "Uh, what's that?"

"Huh? I brought Kari home a present!" He grinned, hoping she'd buy it. He just had to rely on Koromon to keep his mouth closed.

"Great," the woman smiled, glad to see him getting along with his sister, "Give my your dirty clothes so I can wash them."

Instead of handing his mother his clothes, Tai all but tackled her in a hug, "Mom!" you could hear the barely restrained sob in his voice and his eyes were leaking tears already.

"Tai, did something happen?" the woman asked as she instinctively wrapped her arms around her boy.

"I'm glad your here," he told her, his eyes clenched shut.

"Of course I am," she told him simply, "What's this all about, son?" While all this was going on, Miko had made it to the stairwell and was bounding down them. He had a human toy to fetch back before the ones that gave him treats noticed it was missing.

"Oh, is something wrong?" Tai's father asked as he approached the two with Kari at his side.

He got the same treatment as his wife, Tai grasping him in a hug, "Dad!"

The man wrapped his arms around his sun, just like his wife, but looked to her for an explanation. She just shrugged her shoulders, completely confused.

Miko had finally made it to the ground level, but he couldn't find the device. He was sure it had dropped somewhere near here, but he couldn't find it. Then, from the bushes to his right, another cat emerged, the Digivice in his mouth. He ran off and Miko picked up the pursuit, determined to get that Toy back if he had to chase this interloper to Kyoto.

+-9

In another apartment building, a woman with deep red, almost purple, hair, was talking on a phone. She was wearing pastel blue T-shirt and a pink, long skirt. Over that she was wearing a yellow apron.

"Really?" she said into the phone, "Your kids can't be that bad."

"_I'm telling you, you are so lucky to have a boy like Izzy! He's a perfect gentleman and so smart!_" the mother on the other end of the line told Missus Izumi, "_You know, my little rascals are always fighting, all the time, and never listen to a word I say._" Just then, another voice could be heard on the phone, "_Mom! Tell Billy to give me back my truck!_" the mother was back on then and Missus Izumi could here one of the boys crying, "_Don't stick your tongue out at your brother!_"

"I'm home!" a familiar voice got her attention along with the sound of a door closing.

"Izzy?" the woman turned to look, and indeed, there was her son. He was looking chipper as he pulled on his house shoes, still carting around his laptop as usual.

"Hi, mom," he had much better control than Tai, not tackling her in a hug like he really wanted to do, "I came home ahead of schedule."

"Didn't you like camp?" she hoped he hadn't been teased, or only played on his laptop the whole time.

He chuckled for a moment as he thought of a good excuse, "The food was inferior."

"That's all?" the woman asked.

"Well, it also snowed, so they canceled everything," he said, looking up with a smile.

"Oh," she intoned, thinking about that. He really wasn't prepared for a week in cold, snowy mountains. It was for the best then that he came home early. On the other end of the phone she could still hear the children crying, and her friend sounded like she was soon to be joining them with her own exasperated tears. Izzy calmly walked into his room, shutting the door behind him while his mother went back to her conversation on the phone.

"_I wish my boys were as considerate as Izzy_," the other woman growled over the sounds of her sons crying.

"Sometimes, he's too considerate," Missus Izumi told the other woman.

In his room, Izzy quickly moved to his window and opened it up enough for his digimon to get in. Tentomon quickly flew into the window, hoping not to be seen by any passersby as he did.

"So why can't I use the door?" Tentomon asked a half second before the boy's mother spoke through the door.

"Izzy, is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, everything's just fine," he called back, ushering Tentomon into his closet should she open the door anyway.

"If you're sure," she said uncertainly.

"Yep, quite sure. Everything is swell, just reconnecting my laptop now," he told her as he actually moved to do so.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself, walking away from the door to finish cooking dinner. As she stirred the pot of soup Izzy called out to her.

"See ya, mom, I'm going to Tai's house for a while," he told her, already opening the door.

"Right now?" She asked, stopping him before he got all the way out the door.

"Um, yeah, I'm borrowing one of his reference books. I'll be back in a nanosecond," he left then, closing the door behind him.

He quickly retrieved his bike from the rack down below and rode it to the nearby home supply store. He used some of the allowance he was storing up for a new computer to buy a sliding lock for his room. He returned almost as quick as he left.

"I'm back!" He called as he walked into the apartment again, switching from his sneakers to his house shoes.

"Dinner's almost ready," Missus Izumi called back to him as she tasted the soup she was preparing.

Izzy entered his room and quickly applied the sliding lock to his door and wall. He wasn't Tall enough to put it in the usual place for such a thing, but it was enough.

"Mom and dad probably wont like this," the boy said after putting in the last screw, "but I think it's imperative."

"Why?" Tentomon asked, "What's the big deal, Izzy?"

"We'd be in big trouble if my mom and dad came in here and discovered you," he said turning to the digimon, "I'm positive they'd never understand our situation."

"I guess you have a point there," the bug said, then said, "Oh, by the way."

"What?" Izzy asked, wondering if the digimon had noticed something important.

"I don't know too much about humans, me being a digimon and all, but I can tell you one thing for sure," he turned his big, green compound eyes on the boy, "Your mom is a really kind lady, and, if you don't mind me saying so, she's not bad looking for a human."

Izzy smiled at that, "Mm-hm! I have to say, I completely agree. She's cool!" Even as he said this, he remembered a night long ago, when he heard his parents talking. He remembered it so vividly, the two of them talking about him. About how they should tell him that he was adopted. His mother wanted to, she felt he deserved to know, but his father was afraid he would treat them differently if they did. He didn't say it, but that was the only conclusion he could come up with.

"Yoo hoo! Digimon to Izzy," Tentomon called, waving a foreleg in front of the boys eyes.

"Huh?" the boy's eyes regained focus on the present, "I'm sorry, pal. I guess I kind of zoned out."

"Izzy, are you in there?" His mother called through the door.

He panicked for a moment, then yelled back, "What is it?"

"Dinner's ready," she told him.

"Just a minute!" He called back.

"And if you brought a friend over, he can join us, too," she said. This caused both boy and digimon to panic. They had to think quickly, and nothing they were coming up with was any good. "I thought I heard someone talking to you in a funny voice. Is that what I heard? Izzy?"

Finally, he just said the first thing that came to mind, "Oh, no, no, mom. That was me! Yeah, I'm practicing my new comedy act, uh-huh! They're having a talent show at the childrens' center and the winner could win a new computer!"

"You tell jokes?"

+-9

Miko was still chasing the cat that had picked up his humans' toy. He'd be a chew toy if he let that interloper get away with that beeping fun thing. He chased the brown cat with the short tail down the stairs and around a corner, an angry meow coming from his mouth.

+-9

After thinking up a few jokes as quickly as he could, Izzy stood before his parents, in front of the TV as he did his best, expecting the worst.

"Vhy vas Newton surprised vhen he vas hit on the head by an apple?" Izzy said in his best imitation of Einstein. "Gee, I don't know, why?" he asked in a different voice, then replied with Einstein, "He vas sitting under a pair tree." He grinned for a moment before trying another, "Vhat's black and vhite and green?" he paused to let his parents guess then said, "Two skunks fighting over a pickle!" A sweat drop forming over the back of his head as they just stared at him, mouths hanging open.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, bowing his head a little and a light blush on his face from making a fool out of himself, "I guess I'm not very funny."

His father just smiled, "What do you mean? You were hysterical!"

"I can't believe it's my son!" his mother said with an equally big smile, clasping her hands.

"My boy the comedian, who would have known?" his father began applauding and his mother soon joined in, the two of them showering him with praise.

Izzy laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head, wondering if they really thought he was funny, or if they were just doing that parental support thing.

"That was a great performance for your first time," Missus Izumi told him.

"You really think so?" Izzy asked with a smile.

"Sure thing," Mister Izumi told him, "Don't quit your day job, but you were really very good."

"That's right," his mom told him again, "We're absolutely thrilled for you, darling."

"Well, thanks!" he chirped, happy to receive their praise. He knew they weren't his birth parents, and maybe he buried himself a little deep into computers because of that, but he still loved them and valued their opinions. But speaking of people close to him, he suddenly remembered Tentomon, stuffed in his closet so he wouldn't be accidentally found. "Uh, mom, would you mind at all if I ate the rest of my dinner in my room?"

"Don't worry, I wont make you eat anything that you don't want to," his mother said, thinking that was the problem.

"No, mom," he told her waving his hands, "it's nothing like that, really. The way you cook is gastronomically outstanding!"

"Thanks," she chirped back, looking to her husband.

"I appreciate everything you do," he told her. His mother was getting watery eyes at the raw love in the air from her son. "In fact," he continued, "I think you're the most extraordinary mom there is!"

+-9

At the same time as this was going on, Tai was gobbling down a simple dinner of rice and shrimp. He could hardly chew fast enough, it seemed. His mother could only stare in wonder as her son ate her cooking. She knew she wasn't the best cook in the world, but he was eating it up like he hadn't had a decent meal in weeks.

"Oh!" Missus Kamiya exclaimed suddenly as she stood up, "I left the water on!" She moved into the kitchen to fix said problem while her son continued to go to town on the rice and shrimp.

While she was busy in the kitchen, and while his father and sister were laughing at a prime time comedy show on the TV, Tai quickly fed a good portion of the rice and a couple shrimp in his bowl to Koromon who chewed and swallowed quickly before Tai's mother came back.

"Can I have some more?" The boy asked as his mother came back from the kitchen, holding up his bowl.

"Tai, this is your third helping," she commented, sounding exactly as surprised as she looked.

"It's been a long time since I've had such great cooking!" he told her while his father and sister continued laughing at the show they were watching.

"Hey, mister," she started with a smile, thinking she understood what was going on here now, "If you're buttering me up for a raise in allowance, you can just forget about it."

+-9

Lucy, Jennifer and Donovan Suzumebachi sat at their dinner table. Some food was prepared, but only Skymomon, who was seated next to Lucy, was eating anything. The two parents had sad smiles on their faces as Lucy finished her story about her adventures in the Digiworld. Even if they wanted to, there was no way she could deny the validity of the story, what with a digimon currently eating the bean buns, right at their table.

"...and then I came here," Lucy said, staring at the table. She pulled her gaze from the wood table and looked up at both of her parents, "I belong there," she told them, "I know it. I can feel it right here," she placed a hand on her chest, "I didn't even know it 'til I first arrived in the digital world, but that is where I belong. It's where I was born. It's where I'm meant to be."

For a moment, there was silence as the two adults looked from their daughter to each other. They nodded and Donovan stood up from the table to go fetch something from his office.

"Honey," Jennifer said, reaching across the table and taking the little girl's hand into her own, "There's something we need to talk about."

"What?" she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, it's just... It'll be easier to show you," the woman said.

Just then her father came back into the room, bringing with him his own laptop. He set it on the table, opened it up and turned it on. It booted up after a little while and he opened a file. He turned the screen around to show to Lucy.

"Wha?" the girl gasped as she looked at the screen. It was a picture of her parents... standing next to who she assumed to be her _birth_ parents. They were all smiling happily and had their arms around each other, all giving victory signs. Below that was a note in a language she'd never seen before, but she felt she should know it for some reason. The two people in the photo she recognized from Gennai's description. The man had pink hair, just like he'd said, and her mother had white.

"When your parents were still alive, we were their contacts in the human world," Donovan told the pink haired girl, "This was a few months before you were conceived, this picture."

"One morning," Jennifer continued the story, "This picture and the note attached was in your father's... Donovan's inbox. It says that they sent you to the human world. To make all the documentation official, they had to leave you in the orphanage, but they had us listed as next of kin so only we could pick you up from there. We picked you up the very next hour and we've lived together ever since."

Lucy was just staring at the photo of both her sets of parents, comparing herself to what she saw of the man and the woman in the photo.

"We never, ever thought that you would be one of the Digidestined," Donovan said now, sitting back down in his seat, a sad smile on his face, "But we knew that you would have to go home eventually. We were just hoping it would be some time in the future."

"We love you, Lucy," her adoptive mother said now, "Never doubt that. This was never just a job. It could never be just a job. We were proud to have the chance to raise you, and sad that the opportunity had to be presented in such a way. The only thing we wish could be different was that Lucas and Serenity could have been here with you."

Lucy began to tear up and she got out of her seat, moving around the table to grab her mother in a hug again. Donovan wrapped his arms around both his girls. Skymomon watched this, wondering if it was okay to continue eating while such an emotional affair was going on. Donovan chose that moment to look at the monkey.

"Well?" he asked, and Lucy and Jennifer looked over, too.

"What?" Skymomon asked, "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No, silly," Lucy laughed, wiping a tear from her eye, "We want you to get your fuzzy tail over here and join in." Skymomon blinked then grinned and jumped into the group hug, absorbing the good feelings of the family and enjoying being accepted as part of that.

After a few minutes, the four of them pulled apart and Jennifer said, "Okay, let's eat. We can decide what to tell people when you go back to the Digiworld after everyone's had a good meal."

Lucy smiled and nodded while her digimon clapped her hands in glee. Food was a great idea!

+-9

Izzy was sitting in his room with a smile on his face as he watched Tentomon scarf down the meal his mother had lovingly prepared. It seemed that the digimon enjoyed the food just as much as he did.

"Not only is your mom nice and pretty, but she's an awesome cook!" Tentomon said, pausing in his eating to speak.

"Sure is!" the boy said with a wide smile.

Back in the dining room, his parents were still sitting at the table. His mother was still gushing over what her darling boy had just said to her.

"Did you hear that?" she asked her husband, "He said he appreciates us!" she covered her eyes to try and hide the happy tears that were soon to fall, "I never thought we'd be so lucky as to have a son like him."

"You're right about that, honey," Mister Izumi agreed.

+-9

The brown striped cat was running like his life depended on it. It didn't know why the other cat with that dumb ribbon around its neck wanted the thing in its mouth so bad, but if it was willing to chase him down for it, it must be good.

Stripes led Miko into the back of a delivery truck. There, he planned to make a stand. But the look on Miko's face was enough to convince him to drop the device and run. Miko gruffed at the other cat as it ran, picking up his humans' toy. He turned around to leave the delivery truck, but just as he did, the door closed and the truck began to move.

+-9

Back in the Kamiya apartment, Tai was sitting on his bed with Koromon in his lap. His face was showing what appeared to be depression while his hair drooped without his goggles holding his brown locks up.

"What's up, Tai? You look bummed," Koromon told him.

Tai sighed, looking away, "I dunno."

"I'm glad you're back," Kari said as she walked over, "I missed you when you were gone."

"I missed you, too," he told his little sister, looking to her, "By the way, Kari, do you remember something that happened about four years ago, in Highton View Terrace? Tell me everything you know."

Kari stared at him for a moment, then told him, "I remember that Koromon got really huge and fought a big bird monster."

"And beat him," Tai added.

"That's something I'll never forget," the little girl told him.

Tai sighed again, looking at her, contemplating whether or not she really was the Ninth Child.

"This may sound strange," Koromon started, "but do you have something called a Digivice, Kari?"

She turned her deep brown eyes on the digimon on Tai's lap, "No, what's that?" she tilted her head to one side adorably.

Her older brother reached behind himself and pulled his device off his hip and held it out to her, "Like this."

Kari looked at the little thing for a couple moments, contemplating it's construction before looking back at her brother, "Don't think so."

"Awe," Tai sighed, then smiled, "Well, forget about it," Koromon yawned widely wile the wild haired boy put his digivice back on his hip.

"I'm so sleepy," the little digimon commented, actually sounding as tired as he looked.

"Yeah, I am too, good night," he placed the little guy on his bed and pulled a blanket over him, "Sleep tight, sleepy head."

"Sweet dreams," Koromon said before falling completely asleep. Tai lay down too, on his his stomach with his head turned to the wall.

"You're party poopers," Kari teased the two of them with a smile as they fell asleep so quickly. And she had wanted to hear all about the Digiworld, too. Oh well, she could wait a little longer for the chance. Then she noticed something was missing, "Oh, Miko, where are you?" She looked around, but couldn't spot the cat anywhere.

+-9

Miko was currently on a bridge over a deep, wide river that opened into the ocean, inside a truck. He was surprised when the human toy began to light up beeping like crazy, he had no idea what it meant or what he should do.

In the waters below was another digimon with one of the fake Crests. When that began to light up, it knew that the Ninth Child was near. Now just to destroy them. If it could track them down, right to their little hiding place, it'd be easy. It didn't even sense any other digimon nearby so the kid's partner wouldn't be a hassle.

The truck Miko was in went down a side road off the bridge and rolled to a stop behind a warehouse with loud music pounding out of it. Inside people were dancing wilding to the pulsing music under flashing light. On the outside was a sign declaring this Warehouse to be Club Poseidon.

The digimon moved in the path of a large tourist boat that was moving through the waters and his mere presence began to affect the electrical equipment. The captain, a young woman in a white uniform, was confused, the instruments indicated something below the surface, but it was far too big to be anything that was likely to be out there. Then she caught sight of the monsert.

It was humongous, slate grey, and it had two red eyes that looked like they were just slapped onto a pile of grey slime.

She screamed and tried to turn the boat out of the path of the oncoming creature. Unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough. The monster ran into the boat and didn't even seem to feel it as the transportation capsized. It just kept moving on, going after the Ninth Digidestined that it was sure to find nearby.

Outside Club Poseidon, hanging upside down from a pipe, Demidevimon was grumbling over the face that finding the final Digidestined was worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. Just then, the Crest he had on him began to glow and a wicked grin crossed his face.

"He's nearby!" he said, looking at the crest, "The Ninth Child had better watch out, 'cause he's a sitting duck!" The bat creature took off, looking for the exact location of the kid.

Miko was stuck in the back of the truck, meowing for all his worth and scratching at the doors, but it had no effect. The driver couldn't hear him and there was no way anyone inside did either.

+-9

After a filling meal, Tentomon was napping on the floor next to his partner's desk. Izzy was messing around with his computer, as usual, this time studying the additions Gennai had made to it.

"Gennai made some modifications to my computer that are truly awesome," he spoke to himself while his digimon snored lightly, "This one looks interesting, I wonder what it does," he moved his mouse over to an icon entitled 'KanKan'. What popped up was a repeating video of Frigimon, Numemon and Monzaemon in frilly dresses doing a cancan dance. "Whoa, too bizarre. How 'bout another," he clicked that one away and moved to the next one called 'Balloon.' Clicking on it pulled up a video of a Chumon pumping air into a balloon until it popped loudly. "That's very demented," the boy sighed, beginning to wonder about the mental state of the man that had been messing around with his precious computer. "Here's something," he said to himself as he moved to the next one called 'Radar'. He clicked it, hoping it would open something a little more impressive than what he had found in the first two. And it would turn out his wish came true.

What popped up the moment he clicked Radar, was a map of the surrounding area. It was mostly green, showing where the land was, with large blotches of blue showing the harbor and the ocean nearby. Near the docks on the map was a red, blinking dot.

"It's a map of Tokyo," Izzy said to himself as he looked at it, "What's that indicator?" He moved his mouse over to the little blinking dot. Clicking on it zoomed in on the area and a little chibi figure of Gennai popped up as well.

"There's an unidentified digimon lurking in the bay!" the man's voice came through the computer, "You're the only one that's still awake!"

Izzy gasped at that, then turned to his partner, "Tentomon!"

+-9

The monster that had capsized the tourist boat had just made it to the warehouse district. He lifted one fore paw up onto the dock, then the other, showing large white talons on the end of each limb. It pulled itself up to the concrete area, showing that it also had a huge mouth full of long, sharp teeth. It let out a roar that sounded gurgled as it began to trample through the warehouse district.

+-9

"Hello, Missus Kamiya," Izzy said into his cellphone, "This is Izzy. I was wondering if Tai might be available to come to the phone."

On the other end of the Line, Tai's mother stood there, confused. Why would one of her son's friends be calling so late?

"He's sleeping," she said simply, "So, would you like me to wake him up?"

"No, I'm sorry to bother you," he told her, then hung up before trying the next number.

Unfortunately, no one in Lucy's apartment was awake to answer the phone. The three of them, plus Skymomon, were sleeping in her parent's room, the nights emotional toll making them physically tired. The girl had asked if she could sleep with them for the first time since she was five and decided she needed to sleep on her own. They readily agreed and had even invited her monkey digimon to come along too.

"No one's answering at Lucy's house either," the boy sighed, trying the next number.

But no matter what number he tried, no one was available, it was just like Gennai had informed him, he was the only one that was awake, the only one capable of doing something.

"Gee, I guess everyone's asleep," he said as he hung up the phone again.

"You should go to sleep, too, Izzy," Tentomon told him.

"No way! Gennai just told me there's an unidentified digimon in the bay!" The boy exclaimed, "With everyone sound asleep, we may have to tackle this digimon by ourselves." He sounded a little unsure about that.

"And I was having such a nice dream," Tentomon sighed.

+-9

The monstrous digimon approached the night club, drawn to it by both the loud music and the fact that the closer he got, the bright the Crest glowed. He pounded forward, coming up just to the front of the building and rearing up. He slammed his huge fore paws through the wall. A few of the dancers on the inside of the building were just barely lucky enough to dodge out of the way and avoid being injured.

The monster then went about destroying the rest of the building until the music stopped, party goers fleeing for their lives, despairing when they found their cellphones weren't working. The digimon moved through to the other side of the warehouse where the delivery trucks were parked. In the back of the truck, Miko was startled by the shaking of the ground and the glowing of the Digivice.

The digimon picked a truck at random, and it just so happened to be the right one, he pulled it out and tossed it on its side, watching as the door in the back of the truck opened up and a cat and Digivice tumbled out.

Miko took one look at the gigantic, foul smelling monster, meowed in fear, picking up the device and ran for all nine of his lives. The digimon followed, moving surprisingly quickly for being a big pile of sentient slime.

Just outside the Warehouse district, Izzy and Tentomon had arrived by cap. Tentomon had donned a green rain coat to draw less attention and it apparently worked. They made it all the way there without a fuss.

But then they noticed the giant lump of grey slime with teeth, a bad attitude and a worse odor.

"Whoa!" Tentomon intoned, "He's about as repulsive as they come!"

Izzy had pulled out his computer and had the monster on the screen, "That digimon is Raremon."

"Raremon smells like rotting fish, looks like the inside of a trashcan and is someone you never want to meet in a dark alley," the bug digimon added onto the explanation of the monster that was coming right at them. Neither one of them noticed a cat carrying a Digivice run right by them until the boy's Digivice activated.

"Huh?" he pulled the thing off his back pack strap, looking at the screen.

"What's wrong?" his digimon asked.

"It's the Ninth Child," Izzy explained, "He's very close."

"Whoa! Talk about bad timing! If we lose that signal we'll be doomed!" Tentomon quickly shed the rain coat, standing before Izzy seriously now, "You search for the missing child while I take care of old sewer breath. I just hope his stink isn't contagious."

"You can do it!" Izzy said by way of encouragement.

"Do I really have a choice?" the bug digimon asked.

"Are you ready to Digivolve?" the boy asked him in return.

"Yep!" The digimon nodded his head then the process started, "Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!"

"Good luck!" Izzy shouted as his partner flew forward to engage the monstrous digimon that was slopping forward, "It's my turn, now." He ran off, following the signal on his digivice.

Unfortunately, Demidevimon was nearby, getting closer to the Ninth Child as well, following the glow of the crest in his talons. It was gonna be a real race between the two, and they didn't even know that they were both there.

+-9

Tai's world began to shake and a giant voice cried his name.

"Tai!" it actually sounded kind of like his mom's voice, "Wake up!" The preteen boy opened hi eyes to see his mother leaning over him, a little bit of worry on her face.

"What is it, mom?" he asked tiredly as he sat up with his legs crossed.

"I didn't want to wake you, but Izzy called and he seemed to be nervous about something," she told him.

"Huh? I wonder what's up," he said, slowly becoming more awake.

+-9

Kabuterimon was using his ability to fly to its fullest. He buzzed around the slate grey trash beast, trying to stay upwind of it at the same time. He flew around behind the Raremon and powered up his attack.

"_Electro Shocker!_" The ball of electricity flew threw the air, but it was doomed to be stopped.

Raremon turned around and opened it's mouth wide, "_Breath of Decay!_" Stomach acid flew threw the air and met the Electro Shocker in the air causing a massive explosion.

At the same time, right nearby, the boy and the evil bat digimon were closing in on the Ninth Child, or so they assumed. Poor Miko was still just running for his lives. He dove between two of the warehouses and was met by a large growling dog.

Back in the battle, Raremon was moving back into the water. It was able to Dive in, just in time to dodge another Electro Shocker. Kabuterimon began flying in a grid formation over the waters below, looking for any sign of the menacing digimon.

Raremon popped out of the water, surprising the flying insectoid with another blast of Breath of Decay to the face. Kabuterimon grunted and fell into the waters below.

At that same time, both Izzy and Demidevimon were getting closer than ever to the ninth Digivice. Miko was finding himself between a dog and a killer stench. He apologized to his owners silently in his head, dropped the Digivice and ran. The darn toy wasn't worth all this.

The dog stopped growling at the cat, seeing it leave his territory, then looked at the odd thing that Miko had dropped. He sniffed it once or twice, gave the equivalent of a shrug, then just walked off, leaving it right where it was. But the beeping and flashing light had attracted something else.

"We should be connecting, soon," Izzy said to himself as he ran closer and closer to the spot the signal was coming from.

Ahead of him, just out of his sight, a crow was tapping at the device with its beak. Hearing the boy coming, it squawked, grasped the Digivice in its talons and took to the skies.

"The signal's gone now," the boy complained, reaching the place it had been last.

"What are you doin' here?" the familiar voice of Demidevimon came down to him. Looking up, he saw that the bat digimon had found him when he was all alone. This was not an ideal scenario. The bat digimon laughed maniacally as he began to corner the boy against the side of one of the warehouses.

Under the water of the bay, Kabuterimon was clawing at the water wildly, trying to get back to the surface, but Raremon was pulling him down. The evil digimon could breathe underwater where Kabuterimon could not. Finally, the insectoid had enough of this bunk and slammed two of his hands into the eyes of the slime monster, making it grunt and release him. It was an odd sight then, should anyone have been there to see it, with Kabuterimon swimming through the water to reach the surface. The second he did, he started flapping his wings again, taking to the air and getting high enough that, when Raremon surfaced, he was nowhere nearby.

Instead he powered up his attack again and fired it at the dark shape of the evil digimon, "_Electro Shocker!_" The ball of electricity flew threw the air and hit the slime digimon just as it surfaced. The heat of the electricity combined with the odd mix of chemicals that made up Raremon resulted in a fiery explosion that could be seen from miles away.

He then moved to where he heard Izzy's shout of fear in time to see Demidevimon about to attack his partner. The bat digimon heard the buzzing of Kabuterimon's wings, turned to seem him and let out a shout of fear.

"Oh, no! It's bug face!" he then turned to Izzy and growled out, "I'll get you next time!" He then flew off like the coward he was.

The boy quickly got up on Kabuterimon and the two of them began the trip back to their apartment building, not realizing that they were spotted by the news.

"Sorry you didn't get to find Ninth Child, but at least we got rid of that stinking mass of blubber!" the insectoid said to the boy.

"Right," Izzy said, "But this proves our theory correct. The Ninth Child does reside here, in this city. Lucy was right to assume that, yet again, our residences have converged in one general area," his hair was blowing around wildly in the air, "Tai was right, too. We should hurry back home and get some rest. We'll tell the others tomorrow morning."

"Right!" Kabuterimon said, pouring on a little more speed to get home quicker.

+-9

Tai and Kari were standing out on their balcony, both of them worried for different reasons.

The older Kamiya child sighed, "I wonder what had Izzy so worked up when he called tonight."

"What happened to Miko?" Kari asked, "He disappeared."

"Oh, don't worry," Tai said kindly, "He'll be back." The little girl sighed, hoping that was true. Just then, Tai's digivice began beeping, showing three red dots. One was obviously his, another stationary one had to be Lucy, eight floors down. That mean that the third, moving by the building at an incredible rate must be... "The Ninth Child!" the boy exclaimed, "Gotta go!" he ran for the door.

"The Ninth what?" Kari asked, but Tai didn't hear her in his rush to get out there and find the kid they were looking for. Seeing that she wasn't getting an answer, the little girl turned back to look out into the night sky. She saw a red mote of light out in the distance and was dazzled by it, "Oh, what a pretty star."

What she did not know was that was not a star. No, it was a Digivice. _Her_ Digivice. And it was in the clutches of some random crow, who had a nest in who knows what portion of the city. The hunt for the Ninth Digidestined would continue, and the child in question was much closer than any of them could imagine.

Chapter Twenty Eight: End

Please Enjoy.


	29. Chapter 29 Gatomon Comes Calling

Chapter Twenty Nine: Gatomon Comes Calling

Tokyo had was quite the sight to see once the sun went down. In the more rural neighborhoods and districts, it looked like a neon fire was burning in the distance. For one young lady walking home from work, the night was comfortably balmy. The fog rolling in was a little creepy, but it could be far worse.

And then, out of the dark fog a carriage rolled forth. It was made almost entirely out of wood and there was no driver, nor a horse to pull it. It simply rolled along on it's own. The woman's eyes were averted when a bat came down out of the sky, hovering in her face for a few seconds before lifting into the sky again. By the time she looked up again, the wooden carriage was right beside her.

The door on the side opened and, instead of some horrible, ghoulish monster, a much more dangerous one stepped out onto the street. He was just over six feet tall, had slick blonde hair and was wearing a red opera mask of his blue eyes. His clothes were fine, blue silks and his cape was black with red interior. He was beautiful. The woman found herself completely entranced.

The creature stepped forward, placing one gloved hand on her chin, delicately lifting her head up and leaning in closer to her. The woman parted her lips slightly, expecting a kiss. The creature bared his fangs, expecting a meal. Only one would get what they wanted.

As the carriage pulled away, the young woman was left on the ground, laying there limply. There were two little wounds on her neck and her eyes were blank as she stared up at the sky. She would live, but only barely.

+-9

On a small strip of land that led into the Tokyo bay, Demidevimon was pacing back and forth in an annoyed huff.

"I hate this fog!" he exclaimed as he stomped around on the boat that Myotismon had acquired, "Master, where are you? I'm getting mildew on my wings!" out of the dense fog came the vampire digimon's carriage, "Aha! Finally! Sheesh, couldn't he take a cab like everyone else?"

The carriage came to a stop and the bat digimon winged over to the window to look inside. Myotismon was certainly looking happy at the moment.

"At last," Demidevimon told the evil digimon, "I was starting to worry."

"Calm down," Myotismon told him simply, "I went out to have a bite to drink, and to get familiar with the city. It is always so difficult to get a good meal when one is away from home."

"Yeah, right," the little bat said, not really catching on, "So, what do we do next, boss?"

"We are continuing the search for the Ninth Child," he turned to face the bat digimon, "The details are of no concern to you."

"Well, uh, as I always say," Demidevimon spoke as he watched the master's carriage lift into the air of its own accord and float over to land on the boat, "whatever you say!" He quickly flew to the controls of the boat and started it up. Soon, the boat and carriage were lost to the fog, not to be seen until after sunrise.

+-9

The next morning, in the Suzumebachi apartment, they were having breakfast as usual. There was of course a fourth place set for Skymomon, but it was exactly as was expected. Despite her impending departure, Lucy and her parents were not acting any different towards one another. Her mother still made dinner, her father still listened to music thirty years older than his adoptive daughter and she still watched cartoon in the mornings.

Skymomon was sitting right beside her, the monkey's large blue eyes glued to the screen with stars in them. Occasionally she would laugh at some of the antics that would happen on screen, and Lucy would giggle at that. It was really interesting, seeing her partner react to different things on screen.

"I'm gonna go meet up with the others in the park today," Lucy told her parents, "Actually, before I get ready, do either of you know of the Ninth Child?"

Donovan looked to one another then shrugged, "Not a clue, sweets," her father told her, "As far as we know, it could be anyone. Maybe even that little boy next door that likes you," he grinned teasingly while Lucy blanched.

"Don't even joke about that!" the little girl exclaimed.

Her father just laughed while her mother hid a giggle behind her head.

"Here, honey," her mother said, holding out a couple of bento boxes for the girl, "Why don't you take a bento for you and Skymomon? I'm sure you'll be out there all day, and it'd be cheaper to take a lunch box than to buy food from a convenience store."

"Thanks, mom," Lucy said to her mother as she moved to her room to grab one of her favorite accessories. It was a medium sized shoulder bag, nowhere near the size of Mimi's. It could hold the bento boxes and a few other things, but that was fine with her. She just liked the look of it, the black bag with a pink stripe on it attracting her eye when she first bought it with three weeks worth of allowance. She placed the bentos in the bag and sat down next to Skymomon, keeping an eye on the time before they had to go meet at the park.

+-9

Upstairs, in the Kamiya apartment, Tai had already stuffed himself with breakfast and was now looking through his drawers and shelves for his contact book from West Side Elementary.

He opened a drawer, "Junk," he opened the one above it, "Stuff," another drawer, "More Junk," another, "More stuff," Tai grumbled to himself about his own habits, "Man, I was a messy kid!" he perused the books he had on the top shelf above the desk that he did his homework on, finding mostly comic books, "I can't believe how unorganized I was," he pulled a finger down the title of each comic book on the shelf until he came to one that looked a little out of place. He tried to pull that on down but ended up causing a pile of books to fall and him and Agumon, who had Digivolved from Koromon earlier that morning.

Kari opened the door to their room, an inquisitive look on her face, "Whacha doin'?"

"Looking for my old phone book," Tai groaned from his place on the floor, covered by junk and old comics, "It'll have exactly what I need."

Agumon popped up then, a book on his head, "And I'm helping."

Kari made sure that their mom wasn't looking then moved into the room, closing the door behind her, "How come?" The kids would miss it as a news bulletin began to broadcast about a rash of anemia cases among young women in the city.

"We have to find the ninth kid, Kari," Tai told his sister, "Then we can save everyone from Myotismon."

"Oh," the little girl nodded, "that makes sense, I guess."

"Tai," their mother's voice came through the door, "Your friend, Izzy, is at the door."

"Coming!" he called back. He opened the door a crack to check where his mother was. She had her back to them, doing something in the kitchen. Agumon and Tai then sneaked by very carefully with Agumon right behind his back. They had just barely made it by the kitchen when Agumon tripped. The sound attracted their mother's attention, but Kari covered for them, moving into the woman's view to distract her and allow the boy and his digimon to exit the apartment.

Just outside they met Izzy and Tentomon, who was wearing a green jacket and a hat.

"Hey," Tai greeted.

"Hey," the tech genius said back, "Agumon, you Digivolved!" he pointed out.

"You bet I did! All I needed was a good meal," the yellow dinosaur said.

"Psst!" Tentomon attracted their attention as he walked up to them, "It's me."

"Tentomon?" the wild haired boy asked, one eyebrow lifted, "Nice disguise, dude."

"Thanks, Tai," the insect digimon said while rubbing the back of his head, "I put it together myself."

"Wait 'til Mimi sees you," the boy said to the bug.

"I need one, too," Agumon realized.

"Yeah," Tai nodded, "Any ideas?"

"Mm-hm," the yellow digimon nodded.

+-9

A minute or so later, the two boys and their digimon were going to the fifth floor of the apartment building.

"What did we come here for, Tai?" Tentomon asked.

"I guess no one really knew, but Lucy and I live in the same building. She said she lives in apartment Five Oh Four," the boy explained. Beside him, Agumon was walking about in a black hoodie. They reached the door and hit the doorbell. A few seconds later, a man in his mid thirties opened the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, we're looking for Lucy, is she here?" Tai said, hoping they had the right apartment.

"That's my cue," came the girl's voice as the TV was turned off. She grabbed her bag and her partner and made for the door. "Bye mom, bye dad!" she said to them as she slipped past her father, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Lucy," Tai said with a smile of greeting.

"Good morning," Izzy said.

"Hi, Lucy," the digimon said together.

"Sup, guys?" Skymomon waved.

"So, how did your parents take it?" Tai asked as they made their way towards the ground and into the park nearby.

"Surprisingly well," the girl said with a smile, "They wish I could stay here, but they knew I would have to go. They even knew I was from the Digiworld. That was a nice surprise," she grinned a little mischievously then, "Dad still fainted when Skymomon talked for the first time though."

The other two boys and the digimon chuckled at that.

"Yep!" Skymomon chirped, "He went down like a sack of potatoes!"

Lucy giggled as she remembered it, then looked at the two digimon in disguise, "So, what's up with the clothes?"

"We're incognito!" Agumon said with a smile.

Lucy looked up from the poor disguises the two digimon were wearing to the crowds of people around them. No one was really looking at them twice.

"Wow," she said, "They're surprisingly effective."

"Tell me about it," Tai said with a grin, "I was expecting screams of terror any minute now."

"So," Izzy began, changing the subject, "did the two of you find your address books from school?"

"Oh, well," Tai stumbled for a moment then continued, "Sora was in my class so I figured we could just use hers."

"Uh-huh," the shorter boy deadpanned, "Couldn't find it, huh?"

"I lost mine when we moved," Lucy said, "I tried looking for it a couple years ago to call one of my friends from class, but I just couldn't find it."

"Ah, well," Tai said, "I bet we're not the only ones that didn't bring address books."

"I guess. Let's just hope our books don't have the Ninth Child in them where the others don't," the girl said as they crossed the street into a park with a lot of greenery, the place where everyone was supposed to meet.

Soon enough they were in a clearing that was out of the way. Izzy, Lucy and Tai were joined by TK and Matt. Each of them had their digimon as well, but theirs were small enough to still pose as stuffed toys.

"Alright, listen up, everybody," Tai began the meeting, "I called you all here today 'cause, well, there was nothing good on TV."

Matt shook his head and deadpanned, "Ha ha, very funny, Tai. So, where are the others?"

About that moment, exactly, Sora and Biyomon broke into the clearing at jog, the bird digimon flying.

"Hey, wait!" the human girl called, her address book in hand, "Don't start without me!" she breathed out a sigh of relief as she finally stood before the group, Biyomon landing right next to her, "Good morning."

"Okay, so, where's Mimi?" Tentomon asked after one of the last two members of their group that had yet to show up.

"She's probably out buying clothes," Izzy suggested.

"I don't think so," Lucy said, pointing over the boy's shoulder. There, coming towards them while pushing a baby carriage with Palmon inside wearing a blue bonnet was Mimi.

She sighed dramatically as she stopped pushing the carriage, "Oh, get out and walk, you're too heavy to push."

"Mimi, how's that going to look?" Palmon said to her partner walked around to the side, "I'm supposed to be a wittle baby."

"You just grew up! Now, get out!" Mimi insisted.

Soon after, minus Joe and Gomamon were sitting in a circle.

"Hey," Sora started the conversation, "Did you guys see it? It was all over the news on TV this morning!"

"More and more of Myotismon's digi-bozos are popping up in the city," Matt said next, having caught that report.

"And they're very real," Tai added.

"What do you mean?" Agumon asked his partner.

Tai placed his arms behind his head and said, "The last time we came back, there were digimon all over the place, like now," he lay back, looking up at the leaves in the trees above them, "But only Kari and I could see 'em. Everybody else walked right by 'em, as if they weren't even there," he explained to everyone, remembering how Ogremon had been waiting for the light to change. "Now, even normal people see 'em, and there on the news and everything. It's like they're really here this time!"

The kids and digimon gasped at that.

"Maybe this time it's because they came through the gate that Myotismon made," Izzy theorized.

"I don't like it," Matt said, "If they can be seen, then they're physically here. If they're here physically, then they could do a whole lot of damage."

"Yeah, like what?" TK asked.

"Do I really need to remind you what those evil digimon are capable of?" Matt asked.

"Creepy," Mimi quailed, holding herself by the shoulders.

"Complete systems failure," Izzy said, hinting at what would happen with techno talk.

"So what are sitting around here for?" Tai asked, sitting back up, "We gotta get out there and find the ninth kid if we wanna stop these guys! Save the Digiworld and we'll save our own!"

"Go, Tai!" TK supported the wild haired boy.

Sora nodded her own acceptance of that.

"What's the plan?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I mean, do any of us have any idea where the Ninth Child is?" Lucy asked.

"Well," Izzy began, "I've got a theory."

"Stop!" A familiar voice shouted. The entire group panicked for a moment, thinking they'd been discovered by a passerby, but then recognized the voice as Joe's. The boy was running towards them with a blue duffel bag in place of the supply bag he used to carry. Gomamon was peaking out of it.

"I want to hear Izzy's theory!" he continued as he ran, "Don't start until I get there! I love Izzy's theories! Hold on!"

"Alright! We wont start without you," Tai eventually said to the boy as he approached.

The group opened up a spot for the two newcomers and then Izzy began his explanation.

"We've already concluded when the digimon attacked four years ago, all of us, including the Ninth Child, were there," Izzy recapped what they knew so far, "It is also safe to assume that each of us were given Digivices for a reason. Last night, I picked up an unidentified Digivice reading. I think it was the Ninth Child. Obviously, I lost the signal, but it's clear that they're in this vicinity. That's why the monsters are here, too."

"Monsters? Worse than snakes!" Mimi said then held up her contact book, "And this is supposed to help us? I'm lost."

"My conclusion is that the Ninth Child can be found in one of these address books," the tech genius proclaimed, "Somehow, we have to make a lot of calls and patrol the city at the same time."

"That's gonna be a little rough," Lucy said, "We only have so many hours in the day, and Myotismon's goons don't have a curfew."

"Well, I guess I can do _some_ calling, as long as my folks don't find out," Joe said, "but I've gotta do some serious studying. So, I can't go on the search with you."

"What?!" Matt balked.

"Joe, it's summer!" Tai exclaimed.

"I'm getting an early start," the boy said plaintively, "This year I'm gonna be prepared."

"Here, then," Mimi said, handing the boy her address book as she stood up, "If you're not coming with us, then you might as well do my calling for me, okay? Thanks!" She moved off then, Palmon following her with the carriage.

"Joe, we're talking about the fate of the world here!" Matt said, his disgust palpable, "If you're gonna chicken out, you can call all the names in my book, too! See ya!" He dropped his book in Joe's hands and walked off with TK in tow.

"Yes," Izzy agreed, "It might make more sense having one person concentrate on all the calling instead of split it up." He dropped his book on the pile as well, walking off with Tentomon afterwards.

"He has a point there," Sora said with a smile as she put her book on the stack as well, "Good luck!" She walked off to join the others then, leaving only Lucy and Tai.

"Oh no!" the blue haired boy exclaimed to the two of them as they came over, "Not you two as well, Tai, Lucy!"

"Nah, I lost mine a while ago," Lucy waved it away, "Just thought I'd tell you to cross reference the book. Find out if some of the same names are in each book so you don't accidentally call that person twice." She walked off then, following after TK and Matt.

"Gee, thanks," the boy sighed, then looked up at the wild haired boy that was still standing there.

"Ah, don't worry, I'm not that kind of guy, Joe," Tai said with a grin, "That's my job, and you've got enough on your plate."

Joe stood up, stars in his eyes and tears of happiness rolling down his face, "Thank you, Tai. You're a totally great guy. Thanks a lot!"

The boy laughed sheepishly and turned away from his friend, "Ah, well, you know..."

Sora, Lucy and Izzy turned back to watch the spectacle and the older girl rolled her eyes, "Mister Generous. I bet he couldn't find his address book."

"Well, how'd you guess?" Izzy asked with a grin.

"'Cause it sounds like something he would do," Lucy told him.

With that taken care of, the other seven members of the group got on a train to start searching the rest of the city. The train took them right by the bay that Raremon attacked the night before. The kids were staring out the window in horrified awe.

"Whoa," Tai breathed, "Look at all that damage from last night's battle."

"It could be a lot more, too, if this goes on," Matt said.

"We've gotta hurry up and find that Ninth Child," TK told them.

"I agree," Lucy nodded, "The sooner, the better."

"We will," the older blonde said, "We're not called the Digidestined for nothing."

In the waters of the bay, a boat that no one took more than a passing notice of, was moving under the bridge that the kids were about to cross. There was a wooden carriage in the back and a digimon at the wheel.

"Master, are we almost there?" Demidevimon asked, "All this water is making me queasy," he complained, "Those Digidestined brats are probably miles away by now!" He would never even guess that, at the exact moment he passed under the bridge, the children were in the train above him.

But he still kept driving, Myotismon not bothering to answer him. The boat ended up driving into a thick fog bank that seemed to roll in out of nowhere. It covered an island nearby and just so happened to obscure the view from the TV broadcast building.

The workers inside were in awe of this strange event.

"Hey, look," one worker said to another, "That fog's coming in again. I've never seen anything like it."

"At the same time, we're havin' the hottest weather on record," his buddy said.

"And I heard somebody say they saw snow falling last night," the first guy added, "The Ozone layer must be messed up worse than we thought."

On the island nearby, completely obscured by the fog, Myotismon's carriage moved off the boat and rolled over the grass until it stopped on a certain spot. Not a second later, the ground opened up and the carriage gently floated down into a dark space. The hole above it closed so that the only light was a few torches that seemed to be hanging in the air.

"Welcome, oh Great One," Gatomon greeted, "Everything is ready."

The evil digimon stepped out of his carriage and looked around at his new quarters, "Perfect, Gatomon. As always, you have done excellent work," he praised her.

Soon, the cat left his quarters, appearing to just rise up out of the ground. She walked determinedly forward, ready to continue her patrol for the Ninth Child. But she would not go unharassed.

"Hey, whiskers, what do you think you're doin'?" Demidevimon demanded of his rival for the master's attention.

"I don't _think_, I _know_ why I'm here. I'm finding the Ninth Child," she told the bat simply.

"That's my job, fur ball!" he snapped at her, "I'm in charge, here."

"Yeah, right," Gatomon snarked.

Demidevimon glared at her and continued, "Listen up, puss in boots, quit suckin' up to the master! 'I'm the master's cute little pet,'" he did a poor imitation of her voice, "Gag me with a fur ball!"

Gatomon just turned her nose up at the bat digimon, "It's really hard to feel threatened by a bowling ball with feathers."

"Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh!" he mocked her, "Just keep out of my way! I'm finding that kid, not you! Got it? Go take a catnap, kitty litter!" He laughed annoyingly as he flew away to complete the master's work.

The cat digimon glared after him. He was such an annoying bug! One day it would be easier to just squash him and get it over with. She honestly couldn't wait for that day.

'_That flappy winged joker couldn't find water if he fell out of a boat_,' she snarled mentally.

+-9

At a station near down town Tokyo, the Digidestined, minus Joe, had gathered to peruse the streets in hopes of finding the final member of their group.

"So how do we do this?" Lucy asked.

"We should split up, to cover more ground," Izzy suggested, "The probability of running into the Ninth Digidestined increases exponentially if we separate. Myotismon is employing a similar tactic with his minions. You'll notice that we have not had to fight them more than one at a time."

"That's a great plan, but what about if we find one of the big bads out there?" Matt asked, "I don't think any of us should go alone." He obviously had no intention of leaving his little brother on his own, with or without monsters lurking in the city.

"Okay," Tai said, "so we split up into two groups of two and one of three. Who wants to take the third person?"

"I'll go with Matt and TK," Lucy volunteered.

"Mimi and I will go together," Sora said next.

"Alright, that leaves Izzy and me. Let's get this show on the road!" The wild haired boy exclaimed as they left the station and began to search the surrounding areas.

"Good luck, everybody!" Sora called as they split apart.

Tai and Izzy's path took them down a street that had a restaurant. The delicious scent drew the attentions of their disguised digimon.

"I see food," Agumon said as he and Tentomon looked into the restaurant.

"Agumon, keep your mind on the mission, alright?" Tai scolded as he and Izzy walked by. The tech genius was looking squarely at the Digivice in his hand, hoping for a signal to pop up again like it had in the warehouse docks.

"Anything?" the older boy asked.

Just then, a group of children ran by, laughing and enjoying the day. The two boys and their digimon stood to one side as they passed.

Izzy looked at the screen of his digivice after the were far enough gone and sighed, "No, there's nothing, yet."

+-9

Down at the docks, hoping that maybe the kid had returned to the place, Lucy, TK and Matt were watching a crew of construction workers sifting through the wreckage with their machines.

"Aw, doesn't look like he's down here," TK complained, "That would've been too easy anyway."

"Yeah, right," Matt agreed, "Where should we go next?"

"Maybe they're in one of the parks somewhere around here," Lucy suggested, "If they are a kid like us, and if they don't know about the digimon yet, they might just be doing every day stuff while everyone is looking for them."

"Good enough for me," Matt sighed, leading away from the docks now.

+-9

Joe was sitting in his room, the phone held to his head as he dialed yet another number.

The person on the other end picked up and he grinned nervously even though the other person couldn't see it.

"I know this is kind of strange," he said, "But I was in second grade with you and I was wondering..." It was gonna be a long, _long_ day. At least Gomamon was enjoying this time, napping on the boy's bed.

+-9

Mimi and Sora had worked their way around to one of the housing neighborhoods. To keep people from being suspicious about their digimon, both Palmon and Biyomon were in the baby carriage now. If anyone looked, they'd just see two girls carting around their stuffed toys, there was nothing too odd about that, really. Sora was pushing the cart for a while, not minding it as much as her search partner.

Unfortunately for the two digimon, it was a rather tight fit for the both of them to be in that one carriage.

"Hey, stop pushing," Palmon said to the bird.

"I'm not pushing you, you're kicking me!" Biyomon complained right back.

"You crossed the line onto my side, you big cheater!" the plant digimon groused, pushing against the bird digimon.

"I am not a cheater, you're a liar!" the pink one said.

"I'm telling!" Palmon finally cried.

"Knock it off!" Sora ordered, "If you two keep fooling around, someone's going to get hurt!"

"I know how they feel," Mimi said, looking at her Digivice for a response, "Just walking around in this heat is enough to make anybody cranky. You know what this is, Sora? A big, fat drag!"

+-9

In the shade of a tree near one of the beaches in Odaiba, Gatomon was watching people play and swim without a care in the world and was finding herself amused by them.

"What silly creatures," she said softly, where no one could hear her, "Pea brain dolts. Laugh it up. When Myotismon's through, you wont be laughing," she turned around and walked off into the park on all fours.

In that same forest, Kari, dressed in her day clothes of a yellow sleeveless T-shirt, a pastel pink ascot and darker pink pants, was chasing the family cat. She had the camp whistle around her neck still. She liked it and wanted to keep it.

"Miko, come back here!" she called out, "Where'd you go? Miko!"

As she walked through the trees, another cat, this one white with odd, clawed booties on its front paws passed her by. It had large, blue eyes and a ring on its tail.

She knew it was a digimon immediately.

"What a funny looking kitty," she commented, getting Gatomon to stop and look back at the human girl, "Hi there," she said after the two just stared at each other for a couple moments, "Are you a friend of Agumon? Are you one of them?""

Gatomon's eyes widened and she turned to fully face the girl. She meowed a couple times, trying to convince the girl she was just a normal cat, but Kari was unconvinced.

She just crouched down, smiling a friendly smile at the cat, "What's your name?"

The digimon just meowed a couple more times, turning to run off.

"Wait, don't go!" Kari called, reaching out for the digimon, but it did no good, "Mmm," she hummed sadly, turning around to continue looking for Miko. She apparently didn't notice as Gatomon began to follow her, wanting to keep an eye on her.

'_So, she knows about Agumon. Hmm, is it possibly this little squirt is the Ninth Child?'_ Gatomon asked herself as she followed the girl across the street, just narrowly dodging a car and a motorcycle as the light changed. She followed the human child back to one of the apartment buildings, maintaining a good distance so that she wouldn't be discovered before she got to her home. If nothing else, the girl might lead her to one of those bratty Digidestined.

Finally, on the thirteenth floor, just as Kari was about to enter her apartment, she turned to look at Gatomon, who had thought she was being slick.

"Hey, I know you're there," she giggled a little bit when the cat digimon freaked out and ducked out of sight, "You can come in, if you want to. Mom's not home," she opened the door to her home and walked in, leaving it open for the digimon to come in, should she so choose.

Gatomon peaked around the corner, glaring in the direction that the little girl had gone. Slowly, she approached the door. The girl knew she was a digimon, or at least had an inkling to it, so she could be setting a trap for her. She peaked into the apartment, hearing one of the new broadcasts about the odd weather Myotismon and his minions were causing.

She ended up making it all the way to the kitchen counter without the girl noticing, being extra silent this time. She glared harder at the admittedly adorable little human. If this really was the Ninth Child it was her job to destroy her. No matter the odd stirrings in her cold heart.

+-9

Mimi was pushing the cart again as they moved through the park. The two digimon were being more calm, but it was still a rather tight fit. And the weight was beginning to wear on the girl.

"I'm not cut out for this kind of work," Mimi complained, "If I ever have a baby, I'm gonna hire somebody to push her around, that's for sure," she sighed heavily as she stopped pushing the digimon. Their weight combined with this heat was just too much. "Hold on, let's take a break, alright?" the girl pleaded.

Sora turned around to face her fellow girl with a slight frown, "Again? Well, make it quick."

Mimi smiled happily and moved the cart into the shade before lifting Palmon out and reclining on a bench, "Ah," she sighed gratefully, "Last night I got to sleep in my own bed, with the AC cranked up, watching my own TV, wasn't that the best, Palmon?"

"Dinner was really something, too," the plant agreed.

"Wasn't it great?" her partner continued to gush, "My mom knows all the best takeout places in the city. She never has to cook."

"Sora's mom made our dinner and it was delicious!" Biyomon proclaimed happily before saying, "Well, all of it except for this green, mushy stuff," she turned to Sora, "What's it called?"

"What?" the girl asked as she looked up from her city map. The conversation caught up with her and she smiled as she said, "Oh, spinach," she turned back to the map and held up a red marker, "Now, let's see. Where was I?" she crossed off a small section of the map that represented the park, "Hmm."

"Would you look at that?" Mimi marveled, "She's not even tired."

"Your different," Palmon told her partner, "You like to take things easy."

"Finding this kid's harder than finding a good sale," the brown haired girl said as she looked off into the distance. She gasped as she saw the Tokyo Tower. She stood up then with a smile on her face, "Hey, Sora, if we really want to find this kid, we should go where lots of people gather."

"You thinking of any place in particular?" The other girl asked as she stood up as well.

"Yep!" Mimi grinned, "Right there," she pointed at the tower, "Besides, from up there, we can really get the lay of the land, you know?"

Sora couldn't disagree with that, so the two of them began to make their way towards the Tokyo Tower.

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones to have that very idea. One of Myotismon's minions stood at the base of the tower. He was wearing a heave trench coat despite the stifling heat with a green bucket hat on his head. Visible under his hat, the person was wearing a metal face plate that had a permanent grin on it, and two little, red glowing dots represented his eyes. He stared up at the tower, wondering if the child he was looking for, or any of the children he'd been warned about would be here.

The question was answered when he heard a couple of young girls getting on one of the elevators to the observatory towards the top of the tower. The closely matched the descriptions given to him and the 'dolls' in the baby carriage were clearly a Biyomon and a Palmon. Both species of digimon rumored to be partnered to the Digidestined.

"Ah, there," Mimi breathed once they got to the observatory, "Isn't that better? Nice and cool. I knew this place would have AC."

"It feels great!" Palmon exclaimed as she threw her arms up to feel more of the cool air. Mimi saw this and pushed her back down into the carriage a little roughly.

"I should have guessed you had an ulterior motive," Sora said with her hands on her hips. Despite this observation, the two of them moved towards one of the large window sections, looking out over their home. It was a beautiful mix of buildings and streets and parks. And it really put into perspective how large the area they had to search was.

"Isn't your house over there?" Mimi asked, looking off in the distance.

"Yeah," Sora breathed, "It sure is real being back in our own world again."

As they were speaking, the elevator dinged and another, freakishly large person stepped out, into the observatory. The temperature changed in a second, rising ten degrees the moment the elevator doors opened.

"Does it feel like it's getting warmer?" Palmon asked her partner.

"Yeah, it does," the girl answered, "Let's move over, closer to the blowers." Sora couldn't deny that the AC was a god send in this heat, so moved with the other girl and the two digimon to stand directly in front of the machine, watching as the ribbon that was tied to the vent proved that it was still on by waving around in the air.

"There, that's more like it," the plant digimon sighed happily.

"Wonderful," Biyomon agreed.

And then it shut off, the ribbons falling limp.

"What happened to the air?" Mimi asked, disappointment in her tone. The rest of the people in the observatory were wondering that themselves as the heat began to quickly rise.

"Maybe this heatwave finally got to be too much for it," Sora mused.

Mimi then gasped as she looked around at the rest of the people in the tower, "Look at that weirdo, wearing that coat in this heat!" she placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at him, "And such an ugly one, too!"

"Hey!" Sora grabbed the other girl by the arm, "Mimi, be quiet, he'll hear you!"

"Oh, and what's he gonna do?" Even as she asked that, the man turned around to face them, chuckling menacingly.

"See," the red headed girl said, "He heard us! I told you!"

Mimi was still mostly unrepentant for her comments. What really grabbed her attention, along with everyone else up there, was the blue-white fire that lit up at his feet and swirled around his body, burning away everything but his pants and boots which had stylized flaming skulls on the front.

Screams filled the air as what stepped out of the flames appeared to be a heavily muscled, blue man. He stood nearly ten feet tall, had deep blue hair and had chains wrapped around his torso and arms. Then people noticed that the fire hadn't dissipated in the slightest, he was actually on fire and didn't look to be burning in the least. Perhaps scariest of wall, he was looking down at Mimi and Sora from the eye holes in his metal face place with a grin.

"Well," Mimi quipped, "I guess that explains the coat."

+-9

In another part of the city, Tai and Izzy were still trying to find the Ninth Child. They were having about as much luck finding that kid as they had finding adults on File Island. That is to say, none.

They were just crossing a street when Agumon stopped.

"Is it me, or did it just get hotter all of a sudden?" he asked.

"I hadn't noticed," Tentomon said.

"Look up at the tower," Izzy pointed out, "It's almost like it's bending."

"Impossible," Tai breathed, looking at the optical illusion created by the hot air rising so rapidly. It really did look like the Tokyo Tower was being turned into a wet noodle, swaying side to side. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly, reaching for his mini telescope and putting it to his eye.

Just as he did, he caught sight of Birdramon exploding out of the observation deck of the tower, followed quickly by a man burning with blue-white fire.

"Oh, no!" he cried, "We've got trouble!"

Atop the tower, Birdramon flew up into the air as the evil digimon laughed. She turned to face him powering up her signature attack. The Meteor Wing fire streaked through the air as usual and smacked into roof around the digimon, but the intense heat didn't even look like it was distracting him. Togemon approached from behind, the sound of her heavy steps hidden by the roar of the fire.

"Get ready for my _Needle Spray!_" She fired the usual onslaught of thousands of pins zipping towards the evil monster.

He was unimpressed. He lashed one of his chains at the giant cactus digimon, his raw heat burning away the needles that were about to hit him. The blue fire covered chain slammed into Togemon, easily knocking her for a loop.

"Togemon!" Mimi cried from her place next to Sora. The two of them had come up to see how the fight was going. It was not to their favor. Especially as the cactus had nearly crashed into them.

The evil monster laughed maniacally, holding one of his chains tight between his hands. He only vaguely noticed it when another digimon buzzed by overhead.

Looking up would find Izzy, Tai and Agumon riding on the back of Kabuterimon.

"Explain this to us, Agumon," Izzy insisted, "Just who is this guy?"

"He's Skullmeramon, his element is fire," the yellow dino explained, "He's tough and he can sure dish it out!"

As they were speaking, the digimon took aim at them and spoke the name of his attack, "_Metal Fire ball!_" He proceeded to spit more of the blue-white fire like a river from his mouth. Kabuterimon was able to pull back from the stream.

Unfortunately, the blast of unnatural fire struck one of the support beams on the tower and the structure began to lean to one side.

"The tower's gonna fall on the city!" Tai exclaimed.

"Grab it, Kabuterimon! Hurry!" Izzy ordered his partner. The insectoid rushed to do as his friend bid him. Pushing the tower back into its usual position, but it was no easy thing. It would take time and that meant he couldn't help fight the digimon threatening his friends.

"Don't you know not to play with fir?!" Skullmeramon roared.

In response, Tai turned to Agumon, "Ready?"

"Yeah!" He jumped off Kabuterimon's back, falling through the air as the power of Digivolution coursed through his entire body, "Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" He landed on the roof of the observation deck, shaking it and making the people below scream in fear. "_Nova Blast!_" The massive fire ball exploded on the evil digimon's chest.

And it only served to make him stronger. Like Meramon in the beginning of their adventure in the Digiworld, Skullmeramon absorbed the attack and grew from it till he towered over the blue striped dinosaur before him.

"Great! Now we've really made him mad!" Tai exclaimed while the evil digimon laughed, "He swallowed that Nova Blast like a hot fudge sundae!"

"All it did was make him stronger," Izzy agreed, "Unless Greymon Digivolves again, he's toast!"

Skullmeramon wasn't just gonna stand around and let that happen though, he charged the dinosaur that had just given him a major boost in power. Before he could grasp the smaller digimon, Greymon jumped into the air as the energy to Digivolve yet again filled him. The symbol of the Crest of Courage was absorbed into his body and he grew into the fully evolved Metalgreymon form. The tattered wings on his back allowed him to stay aloft should he so choose. Instead he landed on top of the observation deck. He roared at Skullmeramon and stomped forward.

The fiery digimon met him halfway and, for a fraction of a second, it looked like Metalgreymon was going to push him backwards. But it was not to be. Skullmeramon started reversing his opponents momentum, slamming him to his knees, damaging the roof of the observatory.

Birdramon swooped down, trying to take advantage of the evil digimon's back being wide open, and Togemon had the same idea.

"_Light Speed Jabbing!_" Togemon yelled, only able to punch the punk in the back two or three times before the raw heat set her on fire.

"Look out!" Mimi cried her warning, "This guy's tough!"

Birdramon tried her luck then, dive bombing at him, but the monster just looked up at her, opening the mouth on his metal faceplate and roaring his attack, "_Metal Fire Ball!_" It struck the flaming bird digimon right on the chest. It was a blue-white blaze that stood out against the oranges yellows and reds of Birdramon's normal coloration and it caused her severe pain if her screeching was any indication.

But it did give Metalgreymon the opening he needed to get away from the evil digimon and get up into the air again. He wasn't making that mistake again. He may be a cyborg type, but that heat was a little to intense, even for him.

"Hey!" the cyborg dino yelled, pointing his metal left arm at the fiery digimon below, "Up here you bucket of bolts!" Skullmeramon looked up at him just in time to hear him shout out the name of his secondary attack, "_Mega Claw!_"

The end of his massive metal arm, with the three gigantic blades shot down out of the air at the evil monster. It was connected to Metalgreymon by a black line. Skullmeramon dodged to the side of the attack, lashing his chains around it.

"I've got you!" he told the digimon partner of one of those pesky Digidestined as the arm was pulled back into it's base. He kept a strong hold of the chain and was preparing an attack, planning on hitting him with a Metal Fire Ball, then smashing him into the roof of the tower, then firing another Metal Fire Ball at point blank to finish the job.

But it was not to be.

Metalgreymon dodged the first blast of blue-white fire, then roared, "Who's got who now?" He began using the chain wrapped around his left arm to pull Skullmeramon into the sky.

For a moment, the evil digimon was able to maintain his footing on the roof. But Metalgreymon roared as he pulled with all the might he had to offer. Once the fiery digimon was in the air, he swung him about till he was in the air over the park, then the cyborg dino fired his most powerful attack.

"_Giga Blaster!_" The twin missiles that appeared to be eyeless black sharks zipped through the air, slamming into Skullmeramon's stomach.

Nova Blast empowered the fire man. Giga Blaster didn't. The evil digimon was rendered into nothing more than a mist of fractured data particles.

+-9

In the Kamiya household, Kari was still just sitting on the couch, watching the news. It was currently broadcasting about the fight atop the Tokyo Tower. It seemed the tower was massively damaged, but no one was seriously hurt.

Gatomon was in the room, too, watching the little girl with a frown on her feline face.

'_She isn't too bad, for a human. Better company than some digimon, that's for sure,_" she hopped up the back of the couch as she thought about how she'd rather spend time with a pack of Numemon than Demidevimon, '_Still, orders are orders, and I'm not gonna be the one who let's the Ninth Child get away._" She moved till she was just a little to the right of the girl's head, holding up one of her clawed booties, prepared to make a lethal strike.

But she hesitated. Something in her was telling her not to do it. Not just telling, screaming.

And it caused her to hesitate too long. The little girl turned around, startling her.

"Hi!" She smiled, holding out her hands for the cat digimon, "Come here."

Gatomon reared back, not sure why she did so. She ended up losing her balance and falling off the back of the couch. She ended up landing on her back instead of her feet. She sat up then, and shook her head back and forth rapidly. Her head obviously wasn't on straight. Why else would she hesitate to strike down some pipsqueak of a human? She thought about it for a moment and realized that she couldn't go through with it right now. That voice inside her was still screaming at her not to do it and she simply couldn't with that distraction in her mind.

She turned and began to walk out of the apartment on all fours.

"Are you going already?" Kari sounded sad to see the cat digimon go, but when Gatomon looked back at her, she had an inviting smile on her face as she stood there with her hands behind her back, "But you'll come back again, right?"

Gatomon's cold heart twitched in her chest and she ran. She didn't know what this was, but she didn't like it, it was keeping her from doing her job. But she did know that that girl was the cause.

'Here sweetness makes me lose my edge, but I'll be back and I'll be ready for her,' she thought as she ran off into the evening light to get her mind straight.

Chapter Twenty Nine: End

Please Enjoy.


	30. Chapter 30 Out On The Town

Chapter Thirty: Out On The Town

As the sun went down and the heatwave that had gripped the city began to dissipate for reasons unknown to the general populace, Lucy was walking through Shibuya with Skymomon on her back. Matt and TK had split off from her a little while ago, Matt wanting to take his little brother home.

Checking her Digivice told her it was after seven at night. It was nice to know that they could now tell people that their Digivices were fancy watches. It certainly helped with the whole incognito aspect of being a Digidestined while in the human world.

Not that it seemed to matter to Myotismon or his henchmen. It seemed like they just liked causing a big fuss wherever they went. If Lucy didn't know any better, she'd say it was a ploy to either draw out the Ninth Child or destroy them by accident.

"Whacha thinkin' about, Lucy?" Skymomon asked in a whisper as she kept up the back pack act.

"The ninth kid," she whispered back, "The only clue we have is that they are somewhere in Tokyo. And we're on the back step compared to that creep, Myotismon."

"What do you mean?" the digimon inquired.

"Well, for one, I have to be in by nine, I bet Myotismon doesn't tell his chumps to stop searching the area after a certain time of night. For two, we're trying to be at least a little subtle with everything we do. That chump king is sending his goons out wherever he wants, and they cause havoc every time they meet us," Lucy sighed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, but we knock their blocks off," the monkey almost forgot that she was supposed to whispering for a moment there.

"Yeah," Lucy grinned, "We certainly do. Remember that news report? The one with Metalgreymon fighting that fire guy?"

"Skullmeramon?" Skymomon asked.

"Yeah, him," the pink haired girl nodded, "They took care of him and the heat started going back to normal levels for this time of year," she frowned a little bit then, "And then Tai and the others had to vacate the area before the authorities arrived. There's no way we could explain you guys to everyone else without them trying to take you away from us."

"But what about your parents, Lucy?" The digimon asked, "They were okay with me."

The girl smiled a little at remembering that, "Yeah, but they already knew about the Digiworld and everything, so they don't really count."

"Oh," the monkey breathed, "So, we're on the back step, like you said, what do we do about it?"

"That's the real problem, Skymomon, I don't know what we _can_ do about it," Lucy sighed deeply, uncrossing her arms as she turned down another street, keeping her ears open for the sound of her Digivice registering another nearby, "All we can do is try and find the ninth kid in the time we have, and hope that Myotismon is having as much luck as we are. That is to say, none."

The winged monkey looked at her partner for a little while, wondering if things really sounded as hopeless as she was making it sound, or if the girl was just tired. She knew that some of the others got downright cranky when they were tired, maybe Lucy got pessimistic and introspective.

Then the monkey digimon smiled a little bit, she knew something that would bring Lucy out of her funk.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to live up to your Crest and have Faith," Skymomon watched as Lucy just heaved another heavy sigh and grinned, "Or... we could sing a song." She began to hum the tune Yellow Submarine.

The effect was instantaneous. Lucy went rigid as a board and grit her teeth, not even walking for a moment, her fists clenched at her sides.

When she realized what was going on, she calmed down and looked over her shoulder at her digimon partner with a baleful glare. Skymomon was unaffected, barely containing her giggles.

"You. Are. Evil," Lucy growled at her partner.

"Yeah, but I'm also cute as a button," she turned her sky blue puppy dog eyes on, looking into the girls narrowed green.

Lucy's resolve didn't even last a full minute before she gave in, "Yeah, you're cute. Cute and evil. A deadly combination."

"Don't I know it," the monkey chirped. If any of the evening city goers cared to pay attention, they might see the digimon's tail whipping back and forth in a way that could no be from the motions of Lucy walking.

The little girl smiled though, which was exactly what the monkey wanted to see. She didn't like it when her partner got all down for no reason. Sure, they had a major goal in mind for the next few days, what with finding the Ninth Child and beating up Myotismon, but that was nothing compared to some of the things they'd gone through before.

"Feeling better?" the digimon asked.

"Yeah," the girl nodded, "Yeah, I am. Thanks, Skymomon. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Bored, sitting at home," Skymomon assured the girl, earning herself a giggle.

"Oh yeah! Well, this 'Teen Age Thing' is gonna teach you some manners!" Lucy and the digimon on her back looked forward then, just in time to what was unmistakably two digimon being chased down by a teenage girl.

"Think we should go after them?" Skymomon asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said seriously, "I think that girl has them pretty well handled," she looked in the direction that all three had run, "I suppose we should at least follow them, make sure they don't get mad and hurt the girl."

"And if she's the one doing the hurting?" her digimon asked.

"Then we'll see about finding popcorn as we watch a human take out a couple of Myotismon's minions without the aid of a Crest or Digivice," the girl said.

"Sounds good to me," the monkey nodded.

With that, Lucy ran after the teenager that was chasing down the two digimon. It wasn't long before the girl saw the teen stop before a familiar mop of blonde hair to ask for directions. She slowed her run to a jog as she came up to the boy.

By the time she got there, Matt had his back turned to the main street. Instead he, TK and Gabumon were staring at the two digimon that they'd just rescued from a raging teen like they were morons. Now that they were standing still, Lucy was able to get a good look at the creatures.

The one on the right looked like it was a little person, made entirely out of rock. He had yellow eyes set into his face and only three fingers on each stone hand. The one on the left had a pumpkin for a head, an ax sticking out of the top, and his body was covered by what looked like burlap pajamas. He also had yellow eyes, but they looked more like glowing dots than a proper eye, and he was wearing a green scarf.

"They're not ready for TV," TK commented.

"Typical," Gabumon said, "Everyone wants to be in show business."

"What in the world is going on here?" Lucy asked suddenly, startling Matt and the two strange digimon.

The boy whirled around to find Lucy and let out a breath of relief, "Don't do that to me, Lucy, you nearly gave me a heart attack," the boy said, straightening up, "What are you doing here?"

"That's my question to you guys," she said, "I was looking for the Ninth Child when I wandered here into Shibuya. Weren't you supposed to be taking TK home? And Where's Patamon? And what's up with those two jokers?"

TK let off a depressed sigh for a moment, "Patamon ran away after we had a fight. I didn't mean to get angry at him," the little boy said, obviously feeling genuinely sorry for what happened.

"I guess that explains the first two questions I had, but what about those two?" she pointed at the trouble makers.

"I'm Gotsumon," the one with the pumpkin for a head said.

"And I'm Pumpkinmon," the one made of rocks grinned.

"No, you're not," Skymomon said with a slight frown, "You're Pumpkinmon and he's Gotsumon." she pointed first to the pumpkin headed digimon then to the rock one.

"Oh, what do ya know, she's right," Gotsumon said as he looked at his partner in crime.

"Guess so," Pumpkinmon shrugged, "Now, we've got to get ready for..." he paused to look at his compatriot before the two of them struck another pose.

"Lights, Camera, Action!" they both said together.

The three humans watching and their two digimon grimaced. These guys were in no way ready to be on television. Looking to one another, they almost missed it when the two trouble makers began to do what they did best.

"Hey," Gotsumon said, "there's some lights."

The kids looked back at the two digimon again, only to find them sitting on top of a traffic light pole.

"What are they doing up there?" Matt asked. His question was answered when the two digimon started shaking the light from side to side violently, causing the signals to get all messed up.

"Oh, boy," Lucy breathed, "this is not going to be good."

"Get down from there!" Matt ordered.

But Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon weren't listening in the slightest. They just kept shaking the lights. Soon enough, it began to cause havoc with traffic. On vehicle went to make a turn, thinking the light was on their side, and another was moving forward, thinking the same. The result? A fender bender. And they weren't the only ones. In have a minute, the intersection was a mass of people and vehicles, all arguing about the right of way.

The two digimon that had caused the havoc were laughing merrily at the angry humans.

"That's enough!" Gabumon exclaimed, a frown on his face, "That's not funny, it's mean!"

'_Guess we're leaving behind subtlety, here_,' Lucy thought as she saw Gabumon talking openly.

"Sirens," TK said, hearing the approach of a police car.

"Get down, or the police will arrest you!" Matt yelled up to the two digimon. They just looked at him blankly.

"I suggest not being here when the cops get here," Lucy said, "I wouldn't wanna take the chance that we'd be blamed for what they did."

"Got that right," the older blonde said, "Let's run!" The three Digidestined took off running.

"Did he just say 'Let's run'?" Pumpkinmon asked.

"Sure did," Gotsumon replied. The two of them looked to one another for a moment then jumped off the traffic light to follow the kids.

"Wait for us!" they cried together.

The kids and digimon must have run for four whole blocks, taking random turns as they did so, only making sure they never doubled back.

After all that, the only one not out of breath was Skymomon, who had been riding on Lucy's back. The girl sighed heavily, before a frown crossed her face.

"Alright, you jokers!" She whirled around, pointing at one of the digimon, then blinked, "Where'd they go?"

"What?" Matt asked, looking behind them for the two digimon that had been following them, "Aw, man, what now?" They were nowhere in sight, and that worried the boy.

"They were right behind us just a minute ago," TK said as he looked around.

"Why do I think this is only going to lead to trouble?" Lucy asked.

"Look!" the little boy on Matt's right exclaimed, pointing at window in a clothing store.

Looking in the direction that he pointed, they found the two trouble making digimon trying on different clothing. Currently Pumpkinmon was in a pink dress and Gotsumon was wearing blue overalls and a white shirt.

"Man, oh, man," Matt groaned as he looked at the two digimon, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

"I suppose we should stop them," Lucy said, crossing her arms.

"I think this one makes me look fat, but what do you think?" Pumpkinmon asked his friend.

"Then let's switch," Gotsumon told him, and, in the blink of an eye, the two of them had switched clothing.

"You guys need to change your attitude," Matt said as he, TK, Lucy, Skymomon and Gabumon came up into the display window to stop them.

"_You_ need to change your clothes!" Gotsumon said as he and Pumpkinmon picked up some of the clothing they'd already tried on. The were on the three children and their digimon like a swarm. It was over in seconds.

"This look says you're not afraid to think big," the pumpkin digimon said to Matt who was standing there in a shirt and a pair of pants that were way too big for him, with a lavender ascot tied around his neck.

"And you have the statement of the year with the whole, desert warrior princess look," Gotsumon said to Lucy who was wearing a much too big leather duster and a cowboy hat, she was practically buried in the clothing. The rock digimon then turned to TK, "Here's a sporty look. 'Course I haven't figured out what sport it is yet," the boy was standing there with a yellow tunic that had an odd symbol on it over his chest with another hat stacked atop the one he already had.

"And finally, something nice in a little teddy and his best friend the dog," Pumpkinmon added as he displayed Gabumon and Skymomon both wearing a teddy bear suit and a dog suit respectively.

At about that time, Patamon flew by. His coloration immediately drew the eye of all three children.

"Hey! Patamon!" TK exclaimed.

"Hey!" Matt called out, "Patamon, come back!" The three kids and the two digimon, aside from the jokers, shed the clothing they'd been forced to wear, leaving them in their usual day clothes as they ran after the tan little digimon that was TK's partner.

"So, should we go after those guys?" Pumpkinmon asked his friend.

"And why not?" Gotsumon asked. The two of them took off the clothing they had on and ran after the small group of kids.

"See him anywhere, Matt?" the little boy asked as the group walked through a nearby park in the district. They had lost Patamon at the entrance to the park after he turned a corner.

"Sorry, I don't see him anywhere," the older boy said.

"Patamon normally doesn't hold a grudge," Gabumon commented, "But he was mad as a bull with a black gear." The little boy sighed sadly, casting his gaze towards the ground. This was all his found.

"What happened?" Lucy asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it," the eight year old said, "I was mean to Patamon."

"Hey, now," Gotsumon said as he and Pumpkinmon came up to the group holding four vanilla ice cream cones.

"Don't look so bummed out," the pumpkin headed digimon added.

"Yeah," the rock monster said, "I'm sure you'll find your little, flying pig friend somewhere."

"Maybe some ice cream will cheer you all up, huh?" the other digimon added as he held out one of the cones towards TK.

"You guys don't have any money, so how did you get ice cream?" Gabumon asked with a frown.

"We stole it!" the two said together like it was the simplest thing in the world. The children and their partners gasped.

And then they heard the angry shouts of the ice cream vender that had been taken advantage of.

"You little thieves! Come back here with my ice cream!" a lady yelled as she approached the group.

"And more running," Lucy sighed as they turned and sprinted away from the angry woman, the two trouble making digimon right on their heals, keeping a hold of the cones they'd stolen.

"I can't believe you two!" Matt panted back at the digimon, "Wherever you guys go, there's trouble! The next time you get someone angry, make sure they can't run very fast!"

"Or just stop making people angry! That's also an option!" Lucy added.

Luckily, within only a couple seconds, the kids and digimon were able to outrun the vender that had been trying to chase them down. The three kids were bent over, hands on their knees as they gasped for breath, yet again. Skymomon had stopped riding on Lucy's back now, seeing how out of breath she was.

"So," Pumpkinmon said as he came over, "want some ice cream?"

"Not me," Matt breathed.

"You stole it!" TK exclaimed with a frown.

"Not touchin' any of it," Lucy said.

"Yeah, and Gabumon and Skymomon wont take any either," Matt added.

Despite this declaration, Gabumon had his eyes locked on the tasty teat like he was hypnotized by it. He slowly began to reach out for it.

"Yeah," he breathed, "ice cream."

"Gabumon!" the three kids said, trying to get him to stop.

Above them, storm clouds had gathered, they rumbled ominously as they blocked out the moonlight. If it weren't for the sounds of the city, the kids might have been able to hear the sound of bat wings flapping in the air.

What they did hear, in spite of the thrum of city life, was the thunder that rumbled down as a yellow lightning bolt struck the ground in front of them. They had to shield their eyes from the bright light.

Opening her eyes again, Lucy saw a tall, dark figure coming out of the cloud of dust that was kicked up by the lightning strike. Her eyes widened as the dust settled and she heard the others gasp in realization as well.

"Myotismon!" the two trouble making digimon said in fear.

The vampire digimon stood before the small gathering with a dark glare on his deceptively handsome face. He only glanced at the children before turning his blue eyes on his minions.

"Losers. Failures," he insulted them mercilessly.

"No, no, don't say that!" Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon cried as the grasped each other in their terror.

"Instead of causing pain and suffering, I find you here, eating ice cream!" the evil digimon barked at the two of them.

"Well, it is stolen," the two continued speaking together, trying to placate their master.

"I don't care about ice cream!" he roared, "Have you found the Ninth Digidestined Child yet?"

"Well, we were about to find him," they said.

"Enough! Redeem yourselves by stealing the Crests from these children, or else!" he threatened rather effectively.

"No problem, Boss, that's just what we were about to do," the two digimon turned to the children and the two good digimon, raising their arms threateningly.

The kids gasped as they realized that these two morons really were minions of Myotismon. They were seriously going to attack them.

"Run?" Lucy asked Matt.

"Run," he agreed. At any other time, he might have decided to fight, but they had experienced how bad Myotismon could be when he was fighting the whole team. With just Skymomon and Gabumon against Myotismon, Pumpkinmon _and_ Gotsumon? They'd stand on equal footing with an ant taking on an elephant.

The kids ran, like their lives depended on it. And as far as they knew, they did. The minions were right behind them, chuckling maliciously. Myotismon just stayed where he was, a smirk on his face as he watched the ensemble run around a corner. His will would be done. Whether they liked it or not.

"Can you believe those two, turning on us?" TK asked as they ran.

"And I thought they only wanted to have fun, not fight!" Matt said.

"Maybe this is fun for them!" Lucy said as she ran.

"I suppose they'd rather fight us than Myotismon!" Gabumon theorized, looking back at them.

"I agree. Myotismon looks a lot scarier than we do!" Skymomon said from the front of the pack, flying along. They were drawing an odd eye here and there, but no one really said anything, and the kids had more to worry about than staying incognito.

+-9

In the same district, but far away from the chase going on for his partner and friends, Patamon landed on top of a street light, a sad look in his deep blue eyes. He lay down on the very top of the street light, pondering the fight that he and TK had earlier in the evening. It just seemed so dumb now.

"I just can't stay mad at TK anymore," the little guy said to himself, "Besides, I really miss him."

"I told Rebecca and Sarah to just find us at the park, later," the voice caused Patamon to look down, finding two girls talking about meeting up with their friends, "That'll work. It's like it's so easy to find someone at the park."

"Yeah, totally easy to find somebody there," the other girl agreed.

That got Patamon's wing ears to perk up as he looked in the direction he knew a park to be.

"Oh, the park. Maybe I can find TK there," he lifted into the air then, moving towards the patch of greenery in the city.

+-9

After a few minutes, the team of Lucy, Skymomon, TK, Matt and Gabumon were still running from the troublesome duo that had been sicked on them by the evil vampire with an attitude problem. They were actually running along one of the main streets now, having been herded out of the alleys.

They were just passing a small construction yard when Pumpkinmon appeared in their path ahead.

"Hey!" TK exclaimed as they all skid to a halt, "How'd you do that?"

"Aren't I amazing?" the bad digimon grinned evilly.

"Well, you might make a nice pie," Gabumon suggested with a frown.

"Back the other way," Lucy suggested, tugging on Matt's arm as she turned to run. The boy took the hint and pulled TK along with him.

They made it half way across the construction yard again before Gotsumon appeared.

"I don't think so!" he laughed.

"We're surrounded!" Matt exclaimed as the three kids backed into the construction yard.

"Sorry we have to do this to you guys, but orders are orders. You understand," the rock digimon said as he and Pumpkinmon pushed the kids further back into the construction yard until their back was to a fence.

The taller blonde frowned angrily as he clenched his fists, "Alright, if it's a fight you want, let's do it!"

"Skymomon," Lucy said, matching the older boy's frown, "Get ready to Digivolve!"

"Right!" The monkey landed on the ground in front of her partner, glaring at the two digimon that had not stopped their threatening approach.

Their cruel chuckles hadn't stopped as they came closer and closer until...

"I quit," Pumpkinmon said, standing up to his full height.

"Eh, me too," Gotsumon agreed, the two of them turning away from the kids for a moment.

Lucy nearly face faulted, "Hey! What the heck was all that about then if you're not gonna fight us?!"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Matt nodded.

"Why would we fight you guys?" Gotsumon asked, "The only thing that would happen is someone would get hurt."

"I don't wanna get hurt, I wanna stay here," Pumpkinmon added, "This place is great, and so much fun. Who'd ever want to leave?"

"That's for sure," the rock digimon nodded, "Hey, why don't you guys hang out with us?"

The kids couldn't believe what they were seeing. They had been so certain, up to this point, that all of Myotismon' minions were bad, _bad_ guys. If these two really weren't that bad, did that mean there were other digimon in the group that were actually good guys?

A yellow lightning bolt flashed and thunder rolled. The two digimon gasped as they felt the familiar presence of their boss.

"Myotismon's coming!" Pumpkinmon exclaimed.

"You should all hide," Gotsumon told the group of Digidestined and their digimon.

The three kids and two partners ran over to a little alcove jut in time as Myotismon appeared practically out of thin air.

"Where are the Digidestined?" he demanded of the two trouble makers before him.

"Uh, they were here just a second ago," the pumpkin headed digimon said, looking up at the vampire.

"Yeah, they must have got away," the rock digimon added, "You can't believe how fast they are, but we almost got 'em!"

"Yes, I can imagine," Myotismon said lowly, a vein sticking out on his forehead with the rage he was feeling at these two incompetents. He wondered what ever possessed him to bring them along. "You had your chance. Now, I'm condemning you to my dungeon in the Digiworld!" the evil digimon pulled his cape across his chest for a moment before flaring it out as he called out his attack, "_Grizzly Wing!_"

The swarm of bats that he summoned immediately went right for Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon picking and biting at them, trying to tear them apart. The two digimon swatted at them ineffectually.

Finally, Pumpkinmon had enough, a frown on his face as he focused on his attack, "_Pumpkinmon Power!_" A giant pumpkin appeared over the evil vampire digimon, poised to smash him into the ground.

Without even a gesture from the evil digimon's hand, the swarm of bats attacked the pumpkin now. Before it even had a chance to fall properly, the hundreds of bats that Myotismon had summoned simply ate it till it was nothing more than a memory.

Gotsumon tried to use this opening to attack the evil monster with his own technique, "_Rock __Fist Attack!_" The small stone that shot out of the rock digimon's head got within an inch of the other monster's head before it stopped suddenly. All Myotismon had done was open his eyes wider and focus his power on the stone. It stopped in the air then dissolved.

He didn't bother to give the two pathetic digimon another warning as he sent the cloud of bats at them.

"Pumpkinmon!" Gabumon cried.

"Gotsumon!" TK called out.

"Don't watch!" Matt said to TK pulling him away from the horrible scene.

Lucy hadn't listened to his advice. She could only stare with horror at the gruesome attack until Skymomon and Gabumon pulled her back so that she couldn't see it anymore.

The attack only lasted seconds until the two digimon were all but completely gone. Only Pumpkinmon's ax and a single rock from Gotsumon remained.

Lucy, Matt and TK couldn't help the tears that were beginning to come from the corners of their eyes. It was just so brutal. How could anyone do that?

"Well, that wasn't very difficult," Myotismon said simply as he watched the last pieces of his minions dissolve into raw data, "Now, it's your turn," he began to walk to where he knew the Digidestined to be.

"Those two, they were really trying to save us," Matt fought back a sob.

"You're right," Gabumon said to his partner.

"And you just condemned them for no reason at all!" Matt yelled as he looked at the vampire digimon. The light of Digivolution shot out from his Digivice. It struck Gabumon and he began the process of becoming his bigger, more powerful form.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!" The wolf stood on all fours and growled at the man shaped monster. He pounced at the vampire, knocking him across the street from the unexpected attack, but the evil digimon countered with an uppercut that sent him back into the construction yard.

"They were goofy, but they didn't deserve that," Lucy said, a frown forming on her face, "Skymomon!"

"Right!" The digivice activated for Lucy as well, and energy flooded the little monkey, "Skymomon, Digivolve to, SkyYetimon!"

In her much larger form, the winged yeti shot forward with a kick aimed at Myotismon. The evil digimon skidded back with the force of the blow, but he clamped his hands around SkyYetimon's ankle and twirled her around, slamming her into the building behind him.

"_Howling Blaster!_" Garurumon howled as he shot off the blue blast of fire, leaping forward with his attack.

"Go get him!" Matt ordered his partner, "He should pay for what he did to those two!"

Myotismon wrapped his cape around himself and simply lifted into the air. The fire hadn't even singed his eyebrows. When Garurumon leapt at him, the monster just grinned and powered up his secondary attack.

"_Crimson Lightning!_" The red energy whip lashed out and wrapped around the wolf.

"Those two just wanted to have fun," Matt grit his teeth, his crest beginning to glow, "Garurumon!"

As the symbol of the Crest of Friendship was absorbed into the giant world, turning him into WereGarurumon, SkyYetimon was getting back into the fight.

"You can do it, SkyYetimon!" Lucy yelled, "Make this jerk regret he ever came to this world!"

"_Tornado Hammer!_" The flying Yeti yelled, summoning the green twister to her hands and swinging it at the evil digimon like a baseball bat.

"_Crimson Lightning!_" Myotismon called again as he cleaved through the attack with ease, "This is pathetic! You are the ones destined to defeat me? I think not! Ha!" He lashed the whip at her again. Or, he tried to.

"I don't think so, buddy!" The deep growling voice of WereGarurumon made him turn just in time to get kicked in the chest by the wolf digimon.

The vampire grunted in pain, but was aware enough to block the werewolf's next attack. He missed SkyYetimon's punch from behind, however. The attack was barely enough to distract him, but that was all WereGarurumon needed to move in for a hit again.

In the park, resting on top of a tree, Patamon was growing depressed. Those girls had said it would be easy to find anyone in the park, but he just could find TK.

"Where are you, TK?" The little digimon said sadly.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to several building top signs exploding violently. He couldn't know it from where he was, but this was caused by WereGarurumon and SkyYetimon meeting Myotismon head to head in a collision. The shock wave that resulted from this rippled visibly through the air and that's what destroyed those signs.

"They're up there!" Matt called out. He pointed the battle out to the other two children just in time for them to see Garurumon slam into a building. Myotismon was floating in the air, effortlessly holding SkyYetimon up by her throat with his left hand.

"_Crimson Lightning!_" The whip lashed from the evil monster' right hand and WereGarurumon barely dodged, moving out of the way of the attack and jumping high into the air.

"_Wolf Claw!_" the werewolf's claws glowed red and, when he slashed them through the open air, a red X of violent energy was formed that shot towards the evil digimon.

"Ha!" The vampire laughed before throwing the winged yeti into the path of the attack. He flew around it and got right up in WereGarurumon's face just as SkyYetimon bounced off the side of a building and fell to the ground. "_Grizzly Wing!_" the swarm of bats, fired at point blank, knocked the werewolf through the air as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"SkyYetimon!" Lucy cried, running over to her fallen digimon who was laying face down on the pavement.

He crashed through another roof top sign and groaned as he tried to fight off the pain. But before he could even try to stand up, Myotismon hit him again with another Crimson Lightning, lashing his across the chest over and over again, laughing maniacally the whole time.

"WereGarurumon!" Matt shouted, fear for his friend in his tone.

'_WereGarurumon's in big trouble, and it's all my fault!_' TK thought, '_If I hadn't been so mean, Patamon would still be with us, and we would have never met Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon,_' he watched as the monster lashed at his brother's partner again and again, then turned to look at Lucy, crying as she tried to wake up SkyYetimon, '_If those poor guys hadn't met up with us, they wouldn't be stuck where they are now, and SkyYetimon wouldn't be all beat up!_' The boy clenched his eyes shut, trying to be strong, trying not to cry. He didn't notice it as his Digivice reacted to his strength and the danger he was in.

A little ways away, Patamon, who had been flying towards the battle, sure that he'd find Matt and TK, or even one of the others who could take them to those two, felt energy enter his form as white lights began to surround his small body.

"It's TK!" he gasped, "I'm Digivolving!" he took a deep breath to prepare for the experience, then opened his large blue eyes and let the energy spread through him, "Patamon, Digivolve to Angemon!"

The people on the street below marveled as they watched a six winged angel fly overhead, towards the source of the disturbance.

As this was happening, Myotismon had wrapped WereGarurumon up in his Crimson Lightning and was swinging him around, slamming him into buildings and roof tops, doing as much damage as he could to the annoying wolf.

"You can do it!" Matt yelled up to his digimon. The werewolf was trying his hardest, but it just seemed there was no hope for him left.

And then, like a miracle, Angemon was there. The six winged angel swing his golden staff at the Vampire digimon. Myotismon dodged, easily, but the staff still cut through the red energy he was using to contain WereGarurumon like it was wet paper.

"Angemon," the werewolf breathed, getting to his feet.

"Are you alright, WereGarurumon," the odd echoing quality of the angel's voice spoke of the power he held and brought light to those with goodness in them and distress to those mired in evil.

"Yes, thanks to you, I am," WereGarurumon said, preparing to continue the fight.

The werewolf noticed that he was free right away while the two kids on the street below looked up with hope in their eyes that the battle was about to turn in their favor.

"Angemon rules!" TK exclaimed with a smile on his face.

"Guess we don't have to look for Patamon anymore," Matt grinned, hoping to see a serious vampire beat down commence.

"Hmph! Angemon," the vampire spat out the name like it was poison, "They must be desperate if they sent you."

"Angemon," the werewolf interjected, "Shall we take him?"

"Let's go," the angel nodded, gripping his staff with both hands and lifting it over his head. At the same time, WereGarurumon leapt through the air at the evil digimon.

Myotismon dodged the kick, and blocked the staff blow with his forearms. Garurumon bounced off the building behind the vampire and landed a kick to the evil digimon's back.

Myotismon growled angrily from the pain, and lashed out at the two digimon, kicking the werewolf away and nearly punching Angemon across the face if the angel hadn't dodged the attack.

"Is that really the best you have?!" He roared at them, obviously angry, "If you have no more power than this, you will never be able to stop me!" He began laughing as he prepared one of his attacks again.

"Then why don't I give it a shot," a new, feminine voice said, with the same echoing quality as Angemon. Her voice was husky though, untamed, sounding almost like a growl, "_Wild Tempest!_"

A pure white whirlwind streaked through the air, right at Myotismon's chest with the intent to do him harm. The vampire grunted as the purifying energy attack nearly hit him, only barely dodging it. It served to ruffle his feathers though, a small scratch appearing on his cheek.

"Who are you?" he demanded of the newcomer.

The digimon that launched the attack was crouched down on the top of one of the buildings nearby. It was clearly a woman, the tanned leather blouse she was wearing clashing well with the skirt made of leaves. Like Angemon, you could only see her face from the nose down, but she was wearing a white wolf pelt over her head instead of a metal helmet. The pelt's shaggy main flowed down her back almost looking like her hair and hung between her six green wings. On her left arm was a tribal tattoo and on her right was several black belts, all wrapped around her fore arms up to her wrist. Her lips were painted green and in her hands, held resting over her shoulders, was a long spear with a stone point at the end.

"The name's Wildangemon," the female digimon said with a smirk.

"Who?" Matt asked from the ground.

"Wildangemon," Lucy said with a grin as she came over to stand next to Matt and TK, her Crest of Faith glowing brightly beneath her hoodie, "The fully evolved form of SkyYetimon. Her Wild Tempest attack is a force to be reckoned with, and her Spear Of Sky is nothing to sneeze at either."

"Lucy!" TK greeted her with a grin, "SkyYetimon Digivolved again!"

"Yep," the girl smiled back at him, "It was a close call though. But my Faith in her helped her Digivolve."

Above them, the battle started again.

"All together!" Angemon ordered. He flew at Myotismon swinging his staff like a sword. WereGarurumon leapt at him from the side. Wildangemon flew at him with great speed from the back, her spear at the ready.

Myotismon's eyes widened again and he roared as he focused his energy into defending himself.

All three attacks collided at the center and a massive sphere of light began to grow from there, momentarily forcing everyone to look away from the fight. When the light faded, and they looked back to the sky again, their digimon were panting tiredly while Myotismon looked no worse for the wear.

"This is not the end," he warned them, "We will fight again," he then flew off into the night, obscured by the storm clouds.

The three digimon quickly de-Digivolved. Floating down to the ground as they did so they didn't fall from that distance. Once in their forms of Skymomon, Gabumon and Patamon again, the three digimon collapsed to the ground and their partners ran over to them, worry in their eyes.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled as he pulled his digimon into his arms, "Wake up, buddy, come on!"

"Skymomon, you did great, you just rest now, okay?" Lucy said to her partner, "I knew you could do it," she smiled softly to the monkey.

"Patamon, speak to me!" TK cried, "Are you okay?"

"Yes," the little tan digimon said, "I'm alright, now, TK."

Tears gathering in the corner of the boy's eyes again, he held his digimon close to him, "I'm sorry, Patamon. Sorry I got mad."

"Don't cry, TK," the little guy said, "It's alright."

With Myotismon gone and Patamon found, the three kids and their digimon began walking back to the train. It was officially time for them all to go home and get some rest.

As they walked through the Shibuya district though, they came across a few familiar spots. The window where Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon were trying on clothes. The park where the stole the ice cream, the light they were messing with, and the alley where they first met the goofy duo.

"I wish they didn't have to go," TK said plaintively.

"I know, TK," Matt said, wrapping an arm around the smaller boy, "I feel the same."

"We'll make Myotismon pay for this, and all the other people he's hurt, too," Lucy said with resolve as they continued on their path to the train.

The others agreed with her. Myotismon couldn't be allowed to go on like he was. They needed to find that Ninth Child, now. Then, they could go after the creep with everything they had.

They all missed it as two shooting stars passed over head, almost as if it was the last goodbye of the two digimon they had befriended that night.

Chapter Thirty: End.

Please Enjoy.


	31. Chapter 31 The Ninth Child Revealed

Chapter Thirty One: The Ninth Child Revealed

"Mom! I'm home!" Tai called out as he entered his apartment. The phone was ringing as he took of his shoes.

"Tai, you're late," his mother informed him in a warning tone.

"I'll get it," the boy said, not really taking the warning to heart as he moved towards the phone. As he picked it up off the cradle he ushered Agumon into his room before his mother saw him. "Hello, Kamiya Residence," he greeted, waiting for the person on the other end to speak for a moment, "Yeah, Joe. So, did you find the Ninth Digidestined kid yet?"

"_No, I didn't have any luck,_" the older boy told Tai, "_There weren't any other students who moved from Highton View Terrace._"

"But that can't be right, there must be someone else!" the wild haired boy replied with fervor.

"_Well, whoever they were, they weren't in my address book. Check your own book before you start yelling at me,_" Joe said back.

"Oh, that's right," Tai said, thinking back on it, "What did I do with my book anyway? Uh..." He turned his eyes upwards as if the ceiling might have the answer.

"_You still haven't found it?_" Joe asked then said, "_Oh, great. It's only the future of the world depending on you._"

"I'll find it!" Tai insisted, hanging up the phone then and heading into his room to look for said book. The boy set out a few boxes of stuff and start spilling them onto the floor to search more thoroughly for the desired item. The noise it made almost sounded like a window breaking.

Agumon came up behind him as he started digging through the stuff before him and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find my address book," he informed his partner.

Out in the living room, with a story book spread across her lap, Kari was watching her brother dig through his boxes of stuff and couldn't help but comment on it to their cat.

"Miko, Tai's room is messier than your litter box," she giggled at the image the made in her mind as she turned to look at the cat. Said kitty jumped up onto the catch and meowed inquisitively at the girl. Miko was still surprised that his humans hadn't cracked down on him for losing the beeping thing.

On a roof top across the way, another figure was watching the eight year old girl through a mini telescope like Tai's. It was Gatomon. She was looking for the perfect moment to strike.

'_If Kari really is the Ninth Digidestined child, then I have to destroy her,_' the cat digimon mused as she stared at the brown haired girl, '_But every time I see her, I get this strange sensation. I still don't know why I didn't attack her when I had the chance._' The digimon closed her eyes as she thought back on the events of earlier that day. She had been right there! Poised to strike!

But she didn't do it.

"What happened?" Gatomon asked aloud, "I could have stopped the Digidestined once and for all, but something was pulling me away." She sighed as she put the scope to one of her bright blue eyes again, still talking out loud, though no one was there to answer her, "Look at that little pet cat over there. She's got it so easy. She gets gourmet food out of a can and she gets to chase a sock all day," the cat digimon looked away, unable to hide the jealousy in her tone, "Talk about a purr-fect life.

"Nobody was nice to me, like that, when I was growing up," her voice began to drop as she remembered her past, "Nobody was nice, period," she remembered when she first found Myotismon, "Back when I was Salamon, I was a slave to the evil Myotismon," how he took her and brutalized her, punishing her for imagined slights against him, "I couldn't understand it. I guess he just didn't like my eyes. This is one of the scars that Myotismon gave me, just because I have these eyes," she slid off one of her clawed booties, staring at an X shaped scar, fur not even growing over it, "It's not my fault. I wish I could remember where I was born. I have no idea what I did before I met Myotismon. My past his a blur." She heaved a great sigh, thinking about the hardships in her life. She was trying to remember the good times, any good times, but she was coming up short.

She didn't notice it right away when a digimon in a wizard's hat floated up behind her.

"Thinking about the good old days?" he asked, his voice sounding surprisingly... soft, for one of Myotismon's goons that is.

"I'm not going to tell you again, Wizardmon, stop reading my thoughts without my permission," she turned to face the digimon in question. It was the digimon with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. His staff with the golden sun on the head of it was painted with a black mark currently.

"I'm sorry, Gatomon," he bowed his head to the cat, "Please, forgive me."

"And shouldn't you be out, looking for the Ninth Digidestined human?" she demanded of him.

"Yes, I'll get right on it!" he floated off to do as she commanded, though he sent a furtive glance back in her direction.

Once she was sure that the other digimon was gone, Gatomon leapt back up on the ledge so that she could continue to watch who she theorized was indeed the Ninth Child. It would be... troublesome if someone else figured out Kari was the Ninth Digidestined.

+-9

Wizardmon had done exactly as Gatomon ordered him. He was moving through the city at night, finding the few groups of children that were still out. But the results were disappointing.

"Still no reaction from the Crest," he lamented. He took to the air again, flying over the district, holding the fake Crest before him, hoping, wishing to see a response.

And his wish was granted. As he flew over a park in Shinbashi, the Crest began to glow and hum.

"It's reacting," Wizardmon gasped as he lowered towards the ground, he was about thirty feet up when the glow was at it's brightest, "I wonder what's causing it." He looked away from the fake Crest for a moment, seeing a Crow staring at him.

The crow cawed and took to the air, hovering around it's nest, keeping its eyes on the floating digimon.

"A Digivice!" he exclaimed, then gathered yellow energy to his hand, "_Thunder Ball!_" the sphere struck the black bird with enough force to startle it away, but not to hurt it. With it out of the way, Wizardmon moved in and picked up the shiny little device.

"Hey, Wizardmon!" An annoying and unwelcome voice called out to him, "Watcha doin' over there?"

"Uh, nothing," he said, giving himself time to think of a good answer while he stashed the Digivice in one of his many pockets.

"It's hard to believe you came all the way out here to do nothing," Demidevimon said with a grin as hi flapped through the air, "Come on, tell me what you found."

"Alright," the magician digimon said with a sigh, "But if I show you, you'll have to promise not to tell anyone!" he turned to face the digimon, his blue cloak closed over his front to hide the bit of trickery he was pulling off.

"Come on, show me!" the bat digimon insisted, getting impatient.

"Oh, alright," he pulled a bottle with a pepper on it's label from beneath his cloak, "It's a bottle of green chilli sauce. It's great on tacos."

"What are you doing, eating on the job when there's work to be done?" the evil little digimon scolded, "You should be looking for the Ninth Digidestined Child, like the others!"

"Please don't tell Lord Myotismon," Wizardmon pleaded, letting Demidevimon think he had him over a barrel, "Why don't you get rid of this for me?" he held it out to the bat digimon.

"Alright," the little creep agreed readily, grabbing the bottle of chilli sauce with one of his talons, "Oh boy, you know what I hope? I hope the all night drive thru is still open." He winged away, going to get himself some tacos to use this sauce on.

Wizardmon watched him go for a moment before turning around to examine the Digivice again, "There is no way I'm handing _this_ over to Demidevimon. He'll take all the credit for himself," he looked at the device that allowed humans to give digimon the energy to evolve, "But wait, if the Digivice is here, where is the Ninth Child?" It was a good question. And he might know someone who had the answer.

+-9

In the Kamiya apartment, Kari and Tai were sitting in the living room, watching the news ad enjoying a few pieces of melon as an after dinner snack.

"..._The two horses are rumored to be in stable condition,_" the news caster said, "_Now, back to our main story. Severe more monsters have been spotted today, in and around the Tokyo area._" As the broadcast went on, Tai listened avidly, hoping desperately not to here about a kid that had been kidnapped by the monsters. Agumon was more concerned with taking the last piece of melon and chowing down under the living room table. "_In the same community, there are more and more reports coming in of young girls being struck down by, what doctors are calling, sudden anemia. Investigators say these incidences may be related. Now, on to sports._"

Tai turned off the TV then, a frown on his face, "Sudden anemia?" he wasn't convinced that was the truth of the matter. Before he could ponder it further, the phone wrang. "I'll get it," he called out for the benefit of his parents, "Hello!"

"_Tai?_" the person on the other end asked.

"Oh, hi, Matt!" the wild haired boy said, "Did you see the news?"

"_I didn't have to see it,_" the boy on the other end of the line said, "_I was there. We just got back from the city._"

"You did? So, that report on the television about the monsters was..." he trailed off, moving into his room so his parents wouldn't hear something he didn't want them to.

"_Right! It was Myotismon! And was he on a warpath. He even got rid of two of his own grunts!_" Matt explained the happening of the night.

"What?!" Tai startled, unable to believe that.

"_Tai, I'm telling you, I don't know how much time we've got left. We have to find the Ninth Child!_" the blonde told him.

"Myotismon'll mangle 'em!" Tai exclaimed, "I mean, if he find him before we do!"

+-9

Across the way, on the roof of another building, Gatomon was still avidly watching the apartment. Several times now, Kari had been left alone, but she had still not struck. She told herself it was because the time was simply not right. She didn't know how long she'd believe that. Myotismon would simply storm the place and destroy everyone.

This time she heard it as the wizard digimon came back.

"Wizardmon, what is it now?" She snapped at him, turning to watch him drop out of the air, "Go away, before I use you as my scratching post!"

"I'm sorry to disturb you again, Gatomon, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?" she demanded, dropping off the ledge and glaring up at the digimon.

In answer to her question, the wizard reached into a pocket and pulled out a familiar silver device.

"The Digivice!" Gatomon gasped, "Where'd you get it?"

"I found it in a crow's nest in the Araki Woods," he told her.

"Then the Ninth Digidestined must be somewhere near there!" the cat exclaimed.

"No, the Ninth Child is..." he looked into her blue eyes with his green, searching for something in them that he had seen years ago.

"Tell me, now," she ordered.

"Well, you see, Gatomon," Wizardmon began.

"What?" she stepped forward looking up at the humanoid digimon, a glare on her feline face.

"I wonder if the location of the child is not somewhere inside your heart," he told her.

The frown faded and her eyes widened, "What are you saying?" For some reason, she remembered looking at the moon as a Nyaromon.

"I believe that, long ago, you buried away an important part of yourself," the wizard explained to her, "And somewhere, deep inside your heart, lies the identity of the Ninth Digidestined Child. You must try to remember," he urged her.

"Hmm," she hummed softly, narrowing her eyes again and looking toward the ground.

"What's holding you back?" Wizardmon asked her, "Could it be you're afraid of what you might find? You can get your lost memories back, Gatomon. You can remember your past without fear!" he told her, "End your long nightmare and try to remember."

The cat frowned angrily and held up her claws to the other digimon, "Just leave me alone!" she ordered him, "Who sent you here? Myotismon?"

He was undeterred, "Myotismon has nothing to do with this," he told her without fear of recourse, "I fight by your side, not his."

The digimon's declaration of his loyalties shocked Gatomon enough that she lowered her claws, her eyes widening again. She could not believe that she had an ally. It seemed so alien after being under Myotismon's evil control for so long.

"I tell you these things, because you are my friend," he said, "Before I met you, I was always alone. Constantly traveling, never stopping to make any friends. Then, one day I fell from the sky and crashed, but no one stopped to help me. I thought I was a goner," he looked directly into her eyes, "Until you came. You gave me water just before I lost consciousness, saving my life. When I awoke, you were still there, waiting for me. I tried to leave right away, but you stopped me. You told me I was not strong enough to leave, and you were right. I told you I had nothing to give you and you said something to me that I will never forget.

"You told me that I must be very lonely to assume you wanted something for saving my life. I couldn't understand it, so you explained. You said that a person's heart will grow hard over time when you are alone. That it happens to everyone," he looked at the sky as he spoke.

"I don't remember any of that," Gatomon denied this happening.

"Well, that's how it happened," Wizardmon told her, "I thought you saved me because you wanted something in return. I couldn't understand the concept of compassion because loneliness had hardened my heart, but you taught me that all creatures have good inside them," he looked at her again, "That's when you told me your secret. 'My whole life, I just keep waiting and searching, but I never find her,' you said. I asked who you meant, but you didn't know, the memory was lost to you. You only know that you were waiting for someone."

"Waiting? Me?" the cat digimon inquired.

"That's what you told me," the wizard said simply.

"Why can't I remember who I was waiting for?" she turned away from him, "Who could it possibly be?"

At just that moment, a sound came from the apartment across the way. Gatomon leapt up to the ledge to see Kari following her cat out onto the balcony, picking her up.

"Miko," she said, "where do you think you're going? You can't come out here at this hour," she gently scolded the cat as she took the it back inside and closed the sliding door, "Go back inside. Good kitty." The little girl turned around then and walked to the railing of the balcony, looking up at the stars.

Seeing his friend's reaction to the little girl, Wizardmon moved, "I think, perhaps, your search is finally over." He lifted into the air and flew towards the Kamiya balcony.

"Huh?" Gatomon's eyes widened as she watched him go.

Kari saw what looked like a man in funny clothes flying towards her and backed away with a gasp, "Who are you?"

"Wizardmon," he said simply.

"How are you able to fly, like that?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, well," he chuckled sheepishly, not sure how to explain that, and it certainly wasn't the question that he had been expecting.

Before he had to answer, Gatomon had leapt between the two buildings and landed before Kari on the cement balcony. She didn't immediately go to all fours this time, not bothering to pretend being a normal cat anymore.

"Oh, it' you!" Kari smiled, "Hello again. You're Agumon's friend, aren't you? How come you ran away last time I saw you?" She asked. As the eight year old was speaking, Wizardmon took Gatomon's paw and placed the Ninth Digivice in it then pushed her towards the girl. "What's that thing?" Kari asked, "Can I see it?" she reached for the device and the reaction was instant. It started glowing with yellow light and keening softly. Both the girl and cat gasped at the reaction from the device.

"Wizardmon, tell me," Gatomon pleaded, "is this girl the Ninth Digidestined?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, taking the Digivice back.

"Then who is her digimon?" the cat asked.

"I think you know," he told her, "You were waiting for someone. Try to remember." At his urging, Gatomon turned her eyes on the eight year old girl before her, trying to remember her hidden past. Slowly, as she looked into those bright eyes, a spark began to grow in her mind.

"Hold on, my memory is starting to come back," she breathed, "Yes, I was definitely waiting for someone. Every since I was Nyaromon, I was so lonely. Every day, I just kept waiting and waiting. The seasons changed and the years rolled by and still I kept waiting, but no one ever came," she sighed sadly, "Then, when I became Salamon, I started searching. I went on a journey. But what I found was not the someone I had been waiting for. Instead, I found evil and darkness. Myotismon," she said softly, "Then those days of torture and despair began and I started to forget. Forget that you were waiting for someone, searching for someone."

Kari listened to this story, shock on her face and in her eyes. It was just so sad. But there was something she didn't quite understand yet.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked, "What does any of this have to do with me?"

+-9

Hearing voices, Agumon looked out the window to the balcony. He saw Kari quite clearly talking to a couple digimon. They weren't anyone from their group, and if he wasn't mistaken, that was Gatomon.

"Hey, Tai, someone's out there, talking to Kari," he told his partner.

Tai had been writing something down as he sat at his desk, a list of classmates he could remember, when Agumon's words hit him. He leapt to his feet and dashed out to the balcony, Agumon on his heels.

"Kari!" he yelled her name, "Get away!"

"What's the matter, Tai?" the girl in question asked as she stood next to Wizardmon and Gatomon without a care in the world.

"What do you digimon want?" He ignored his sister's question to interrogate the other two.

"Wait," Wizardmon said quickly, "Listen to what I have to say."

"It had better be good," a new voice interjected, "It's been a long night, bub." The group turned to look and saw SkyYetimon, hovering there. Lucy was on her shoulder.

"Kari, get away from them, they're evil digimon!" Tai said, turning back to his little sister. He'd let the wizard speak, but not with his sister so close to him.

"No, they're not evil," the little girl insisted, "Gatomon has been searching for me and the Ninth Digidestined child."

That was all Agumon needed to hear. He remembered the cat and how she'd fought against him and the others in Myotismon's castle back in the Digiworld. It was her fault that they were delayed in following the monster. He wouldn't let her get Tai's little sister.

SkyYetimon was of similar mind, but Lucy stopped her from moving by putting a hand on her arm.

Agumon fired off a Pepper Breath. Usually, his aim was spot on, but this one time, he was just enough off his mark that the fire was going to hit the little girl.

Gatomon didn't even think about as she jumped forward, "Watch out!" she pushed the girl down and took the fire ball herself. She was knocked back, bouncing off the railing of the Balcony.

"Kari!" Tai cried, "Are you okay?"

The girl gasped, "Oh no, Gatomon!"

The cat lay there silently, stunned by the hit.

Lucy looked on this with wide eyes, "That was not the action of an enemy," she whispered to her partner who nodded her head.

"You alright?" Kari asked, moving next to the cat digimon.

"I'm fine," she said, getting to her feet easily, "This is nothing compared to what I've been through."

Tai looked on, having seen how the cat saved his sister from his digimon's misfired attack, "Did you see that? Gatomon saved Kari!"

"Okay," Lucy said, being set down on the balcony by her partner, "Now I'm more than a little curious."

"Now that you remember, do you understand?" Wizardmon asked Gatomon, ignoring the other humans and their partners. They were of no importance to him.

"Yes, I was waiting for the Digidestined human I belong with," she turned her large blue eyes on the eight year old girl, a smile on her face, a true one, for the first time in a long time, "That's you, Kari, you're the Ninth Digidestined!"

"Ha!" Lucy grinned, "Called it!"

"You were waiting just for me?" she asked, not paying attention to the other girl.

"I've been searching for ever and ever for you," the cat said, taking the few steps forward necessary to hug the girl. Kari smiled as she hugged Gatomon right back.

"You could have just called," she quipped, then looked up at her brother and his friend, "Guess what, Tai, Lucy, Gatomon's my digimon! Now I've got one, too!"

"Don't be silly, Kari," Tai said, "That doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense, considering she's the Ninth Digidestined," Wizardmon said.

SkyYetimon turned back into Skymomon and came down to land on the railing next to her partner.

"I've got to agree with him, Tai," Lucy said, holding up her own Digivice, "I came up here because I got a reading of two Digivices in your apartment. It's gotta be Kari."

"That's right," Gatomon said, stepping forward, "and I'm her digimon. I'll always protect her."

"Well, then, why are you part of Myotismon's army? And just who is this guy?" the wild haired boy asked.

"His name is Wizardmon," the cat informed him freely, trying to prove she was on his side, "He put himself at great risk to bring that Digivice to me. He's my friend."

"But how do I know if I can trust him or not?" Tai asked, having to play this cautiously, his sister was being put at risk by all of this, after all.

"Frankly, who you trust is of no concern to me," Wizardmon told the boy, "But I will follow Gatomon as long as she needs me," he then held out Kari's Digivice to the boy, "Here, you take the device."

The boy took it into hand while Agumon asked, "Why give it to Tai? It belongs to Kari."

"Myotismon," Lucy interjected.

"Indeed," the wizard agreed, "she can't be seen with it. If Myotismon finds out she's the Ninth Child and finds out Gatomon is her digimon, he will destroy Gatomon and he wont rest until he finds Kari. If you have the Digivice, then their secret will be safe."

"Okay," the boy said, pocketing the device, "I'll take it, but you better not be double crossing us. What's next?"

"The Crest, right?" Skymomon guessed, "She's got her Digivice, now she needs her Crest."

"That is right," the magician digimon nodded, "She needs that Crest. The real one."

"The real one?" Lucy and Tai asked at the same time.

Gatomon held out the fake Crest as she explained, "This Crest is just a copy, created to find the Digivice. Myotismon is the only one with access to the real Crest. We've got to get it back."

"Leave everything to us," Wizardmon, said as he and Gatomon turned to the edge of the balcony, getting ready to take to the skies to get back to the island and take the crest from under the vampire's nose.

"Wait!" Tai called, "Tell us the location of Myotismon's hideout! We'll come with you and we can help you!"

"Ditto," Lucy said.

"No," Wizardmon denied them, "It's too dangerous." They lifted into the air before anything more could be said to try and halt them from going.

"Be careful, Gatomon!" Kari shouted after her digimon, sad to see her go.

"Can we trust them?" Agumon asked.

"I think so," Lucy said, "This seems rather complicated to be a set up by Myotismon."

"We have to trust them," Tai said, "we have no choice."

"That," Skymomon said, "is not entirely true."

The three Digidestined looked to the winged monkey, wondering what she meant. She just grinned at them.

+-9

As they neared the small island that Myotismon had made his temporary home, Wizardmon told Gatomon his idea.

"Myotismon has to be keeping Kari's crest somewhere in that hideout," he explained, "I think we have to search his room." Gatomon agreed. That would be the most likely place.

They landed on the island and were confronted not a second later by a Bakemon with a scar over it's left eye.

"Stop! Myotismon is feeding upon the night," he warned them, "He said no one may enter until he returns at dawn."

"Ah, forget about it," Wizardmon said, "As a matter of fact, _Thunder Ball._" He sent the magical orb at the ghost type digimon without any warning. Instead of doing him any physical damage, his eyes suddenly went dull for a moment, and he blinked as he looked around dumbly as he sank to the ground.

"I can't remember a thing," he said, "What were we talking about?"

"We're relieving you of guard duty," the magician told him, "Go back home and get some sleep."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. See ya," the ghost floated up and away.

"Hold it!" the wizard stopped him before he got too far, "Don't forget to leave us the key."

"Huh? Oh, the key. Here," he turned to face the two digimon again, tossing them a large, iron key.

"Thank you," Wizardmon said, catching it easily.

"What a nice guy," the ghost marveled as it floated off to find its home and go to bed.

"Let's go," the humanoid digimon said, and the two of them ran into the lair of their former master.

The key opened the lock easily, allowing them to go without damaging it, and they soon found themselves in Myotismon's room. It was decorated with only a torch and his coffin, currently empty.

"Hurry up, Wizardmon," Gatomon said as they looked around the room, "Let's find the Crest and cruise on out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

"Relax, we've got plenty of time before the sun comes up," he told his friend, "Myotismon wont be back for hours." The black symbol on his staff meant that the sun was still down. "Maybe he keeps it in the coffin."

The two digimon pulled off the coffin lid, looking at the red silk interior for a moment. They saw nothing, but that did not deter Wizardmon. Instead, he reached under the red pillow and hit pay dirt.

"Got it!" he held it in his hand, showing her.

"Great," the cat whispered, "Now, let's just get out of her so-"

The cat was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and the screeching of bats as they flew into the lair of their master.

"Uh-oh," the wizard intoned and the two of them quickly placed the lid back on the coffin.

"What are you doing in here?" Myotismon demanded as he entered his room.

"Nothing," Wizardmon told him, not very convincingly.

"If you are looking for something, perhaps I can assist you," he held up the Crest in his hand.

"Another copy," Wizardmon grumbled, stashing the one in his hand in his pocket anyway.

"Do you think I would just leave the original lying around for thieves like you?" He crushed the Crest in the palm of his hand. He missed it as Wizardmon's eyes widened a fraction of an inch.

The magician digimon jumped at Myotismon, swinging his staff at him, but the vampire simply floated around him.

"Wizardmon!" Gatomon cried as the digimon fell flat on his face.

"I'm alright," he said, pushing himself up.

Gatomon turned a glare on her former master, thinking about how she so desperately wanted to make him pay.

"Those eyes," Myotismon said with a frown on his face, "From the first time you looked at me with those eyes, I knew you would turn against me. And that's why I had to teach you, by punishing you. I would have hurt you even more, but you became a good servant. But I promise you, I will not be so easy on you this time!" His gaze shifted to the other digimon in his chambers, "And you think your betrayal will go unpunished, Wizardmon?"

The digimon in question stepped in front of Gatomon protectively, "How can I betray you when I was never on your side to begin with?"

"You little fool!" Myotismon barked, "_Grizzly Wing!_" the swarm of bats moved towards Gatomon and Wizardmon. They tried to fight them off, but it wasn't long before they were overwhelmed by the attack.

Instead of destroying them outright, like he would normally. Myotismon had his bats carry the traitors outside of his lair and drop them from a good height. Gatomon managed to land on her feet. Wizardmon wasn't quite so lucky.

"We really have to stay together," the cat said as she helped her friend to his feet.

The vampire digimon laughed at this display, "Those who play together, lose together!"

"I'm not afraid!" Gatomon hissed at him, glaring with all her might.

"You soon will be, you pathetic, little traitor!" he held his arms out to his sides and his bats came down, ready to strike down his enemies.

"_Magical Game!_" Blue lightning shot from Wizardmon's staff, destroying and dispersing the bats before it streaked towards the vampire digimon.

+-9

Kari looked on, alone, from the Kamiya balcony as the sky lit up with thunder and Lightning. Lucy, Tai, Agumon and SkyYetimon had already left, silently following the two digimon back to Myotismon's lair. They left her there, not wanting her to be in danger, but she still wished she could go.

"I hope they're not hurt," Kari said to herself as she watched the lightning strike the island. That was suddenly visible, even in the mist.

+-9

SkyYetimon, carrying Tai, Lucy and Agumon, had lost Wizardmon and Gatomon in the thick mist that Myotismon had concealed his island in. They were currently cruising along, trying to tell where anything at all was.

And, were it not for the sudden lightning bolt that struck the island, they would have no idea where to go.

"Over there!" Tai pointed.

"Let's go!" SkyYetimon exclaimed, darting towards the island.

+-9

Myotismon floated before the traitors, gathering power from the storm overhead.

"Well, I hope you realize, there is no safe place to hide during this lightning storm," he descended slowly to the ground.

Gatomon darted forward, readying her claws to attack the vampire. He blocked her and a bolt of lightning struck at the same time, knocking her away.

Wizardmon tried next, "_Magical Game!_" The bolt of blue energy streaked from the end of his staff.

"Ha!" Myotismon yelled as he bounced the attack back at the wizard with his hands, "_Crimson Lightning!_" the red energy whip wrapped around Wizardmon and lifted him up, "I'll do away with you first, Wizardmon!" he bashed the poor digimon into the ground.

"Hey, Why don't you pick on someone one tenth your size!" Gatomon shouted.

Myotismon looked at her coolly, "There are those eyes again, and not only are they filled with rebellion, I can also see a glimmer of hope," he sneered, "The hope that one day your dreams will come true."

"That's right!" the cat affirmed as she glared at the monster before her, "I believe in my dreams, and that's how I've made it this far!"

"And just what have you really achieved?" He asked her, "You believe in your worthless friends and you believe that your dreams can come true. Dreams to not exist for the stupid!"

"If you believe in yourself, then dreams are real, and to make my dreams come true, I only have to do one thing!" She glared at him as she ran forward, "Defeat you!"

"What?" he demanded, his feet actually touching the ground, losing control of his flight ability in his confusion.

"My dream is for me to return to my true identity and what I had before I met you," Gatomon told him.

"What do you mean, 'true identity'?" his eyes narrowed, "Could it be that... Are you the Ninth Digimon?"

Gatomon neglected to answer, at him with her claws raised.

Unfortunately, this attack worked about as well as every other attack so far, Myotismon knocking her away harshly. She flipped through the air to land on her feet next to Wizardmon.

"Strength is everything," Myotismon growled at the two of them, "Before I crush you, I'll give you pleasure of watching me destroy your wizard friend, first! _Grizzly Wing!_"

Hundreds of bats were summoned at his command and they swarmed around Wizardmon, lifting him into the air, biting and scratching at him as they did.

"Hang on!" Gatomon yelled up to him as he was taken into the sky. Without warning, they dropped him into the water below and he did not surface again. "No, not that!" the cat digimon cried, tears leaking from the eyes that Myotismon hated so much, "Oh, no!" She began to sob as the evil digimon laughed maniacally behind her.

"Hey, Chuckles!" A voice from above shouted, "Have a laugh at this!"

The two digimon looked up in time to see SkyYetimon come out of the fog. She was holding Tai and Lucy in her left arm, and her right was reared back, prepared to throw Agumon at him. She let loose with a powerful toss, right at the evil digimon. The yellow dinosaur had curled into a ball.

Halfway to his target, he started to Digivolve.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

Suddenly, Agumon gained thirty seven feet in height, about fourteen tons of weight, and maintained his original velocity. He uncurled when he got close, unleashing a Nova blast at almost point blank range.

"Gah!" The vampire yelled, only barely able to dodge the attack, both the fire ball and Greymon flying past him, just over Gatomon's head. The large dinosaur proved it's dexterity by landing on his feet and turning around to face the enemy digimon. "You think you're so clever?" Myotismon roared as he approached.

"Yeah!" A voice behind him was all the warning he got before he received a kick to his back that launched him forward.

"_Nova Blast!_" Another fireball flew at him as he tumbled through the air from the kick from SkyYetimon.

"What are you doing here?" Gatomon demanded of Tai and Lucy as they stood nearby her.

"Selling girl scout cookies," Lucy quipped, "Think tall, dark and angry would like to buy some thin mints?"

"We're here to help you," Tai said, "We're not letting you get hurt while we sat back and did nothing."

"You guys," the cat breathed, astonished by the loyalty they were showing her when they only just found out that she was on their side. Heck, when _she_ just found out she was on their side.

"Enough!" Myotismon roared, coming out of the explosion, hardly even ruffled, "I have no time for the likes of you! _Crimson Lightning!_" The whips he summoned in each hand were used to great effect. One grabbed SkyYetimon around the waist, the other lashed around Greymon. The vampire growled with the effort, slamming the two digimon into one another, then swinging them around a few times and slamming them into the ground. "You are weak!" He roared, "Infantile! That you stand before me with the intent to stop my reign as the king of the digital world speaks only of your idiocy!" He lashed the two digimon again and again as he spoke.

"Greymon!" Tai shouted, "You have to Digivolve!"

The energy from the Crest of Courage filled Greymon and he turned into Metalgreymon. Myotismon backed off for the moment as the cyborg digimon stood over his fellow digimon. SkyYetimon did not have the energy to fight anymore, let alone to Digivolve again. She turned back into Skymomon, and moved off towards Lucy, the girl met her half way.

"What do you say now, punk?" Metalgreymon growled at the vampire, "Take this! _Mega Claw!_" Like with Skullmeramon earlier in the day, his left claw, the metal one, shot out from his wrist, attached to him by a thick metal cable. Myotismon dodged, of course, but that put him in range for the cyborg's other attack. "_Giga Blaster!_" The shark missiles flew true, until about thirty feet from the monster.

He simply summoned another whip of crimson energy and knocked them out of the sky. The digimon and children stared at the monster with fear. He was just too strong. At that moment, Metalgreymon ran out of energy. Going to Ultimate level twice in one day was just too much for him to fight for very long.

"That you have come to save her only proves Gatomon's claims," the vampire said as he floated in the air about the water, "Well, I hope the Ninth Digidestined like's fishing," before Lucy or Tai could react, bats surrounded Gatomon and lifted her into the air next to the evil digimon, "because this will be the perfect bait to lure them out!" he laughed maniacally as he flew off into the night sky, the only thing Digidestined he'd left behind able to do being to listen to the cries from Gatomon, pleading them for help.

Chapter Thirty One: End

Please Enjoy.


	32. Chapter 32 Flower Power

Chapter Thirty Two: Flower Power

Lucy lay in her bed, looking up at the ceiling with her face full of contemplation. The last couple of days had been... eventful. Heck, just three days ago, they had learned there was a ninth member to their little band. Three days and they'd left the Digiworld, come to the human world, fought of several grunts of Myotismon's and the jerk himself, discovered Tai's little sister was the Ninth Child and then lost her partner to the vampire.

Lucy heaved a sigh. That was a lot to happen in three days. Her parents, even with how understanding they'd been, were still coping with the fact that she wouldn't be coming back to them after this was all done. Seeing her fighting evil digimon on the news was making them go a little spare. She couldn't really blame them.

She turned on her side, looking out the window of her room, hoping to see stars. They reminded her of the Digiworld. Instead, all she saw was the way the street lights colored the fog. She heaved another sigh and went back to staring at the ceiling of her room. It was going to be a long night.

+-9

Atop the spherical part of a TV station, Myotismon stood in the center of a complex runic circle. He focused his power into his hands as he dragged them through the air seemingly at random. And yet not. With each motion of the vampire's hands, the fog grew thicker and thicker.

"It's almost done," he said to himself, an excited growl to his normally suave voice, "Soon now, not in fire, or in ice but in fog, this world will be mine!" His evil laughter filled the air. If one were to look directly down on the Odaiba TV station, they'd see the fog swirling outwards from a central point before that view as well was obscured by the thick mists.

+-9

As late as it was, Mimi was still sitting outside with Palmon. The plant digimon could, of course, eat things in the usual way, but, as it would turn out, she needed to feed off the soil as well. Currently the digimon was standing in the park with the vines that made up her claws digging into the dirt and sucking up the nutrients she needed.

"Yuck! This soil is polluted," Palmon grimaced, but kept feeding anyway, the look on her face showing her disgust, "Tastes like gasoline and old candy wrappers."

Mimi smiled, pulling a bottle from her bag, "I've got this bottled water," she shook it back and forth so her partner could hear it sloshing, "Try it. It's fresh and pure as a winter morning in the Swiss Alps," Palmon blinked at her, and the girl shrugged, "That's what it says on the bottle, at least."

"Okay," the plant digimon nodded, "Pour it on my roots." Mimi pulled the cap off and started pouring the purified water around her digimon's feet. There was an immediate change in the look on her face.

Mimi looked up when she heard someone coming.

Palmon didn't notice at all, enjoying the taste of the water that had overridden the pollution in the soil, "Mm! Yummy!" she mocked a yodel, her eyes closed in bliss. That was really good water.

Before she could really enjoy it though, Mimi suddenly threw a blanket over her. She struggled against it, right away, not sure of what was going on.

"Hush!" Mimi whispered.

A man who had been walking by, with dark hair and sunglasses, looked to the young lady who was sitting in the middle of the childrens' playground at such an hour. He took off his sunglasses almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Mimi?" he asked, removing his glasses, "Is that you? Mimi, what are you doing out here?"

The girl in question was still struggling with Palmon, trying to make sure she stayed under the yellow sheet she'd brought with her.

She looked up at the man with a nervous smile on her face saying, "Oh, hi, dad."

"You should be inside," the man told her, looking at his watch. It was after ten o'clock.

"Well, you see," she grabbed her hat with one hand and slammed it down over the top of the blanket, "I was just waiting for you!" Luckily, Palmon had stopped wriggling under the blanket by this time. Getting the idea that someone else was around.

The man blinked at his daughter. But just shrugged and smiled at her. Wasn't she just the sweetest?

As the two of them began to walk towards their apartment, Mimi turned to her father while she carried Palmon along under the sheet, "So, dad, why are you so late, anyway?"

"It's this fog," the man said, sounding a little annoyed, "It's got everything tied up in knots," he looked to his darling little girl, "Say, what's that you've got under your hat, there?"

"Oh, uh, it's just, uh," she couldn't think of a single acceptable excuse, so she latched onto the man's arm with hers, leaning in close and saying, "Bur! It's getting cold out here. We better hurry up and get home or mom will be worried."

The man just shook his head and grinned as he let his daughter pull him along. Obviously she was trying to keep a secret, but that was okay. A girl her age needed a little space. As long as it wasn't dangerous, he wouldn't mind.

When the two of them entered the apartment, they were greeted by Missus Tachikawa. She was a pretty lady in a white dress with a black apron. She had Mimi's hair color, though much shorter, and a wide smile on her face.

"I'm home," her father said with a large smile.

"Welcome home, honey," her mother replied, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then gave the same welcome to Mimi.

"I'm going to my room to get ready for bed," she announced after that with a smile. She carried Palmon, still under the cloth and her hat into her room. Once the door was closed, she set the digimon down and sat on her bet, "Okay, Palmon, it's safe now."

The digimon was quick to remove her disguise, looking up at her partner, wondering why she did that.

"Sorry," Mimi said, resting her cheeks in her hands, "I could have pretended you were my doll, or a stuffed animal, I suppose, but I have a reputations for good taste to maintain."

"I'm in bad taste?" Palmon asked sadly, the flower on her head seeming to wilt with her depression, "Is that what you're saying?"

"Oh, Palmon, I didn't mean it that way, really," the girl said, not sure how to explain that Palmon was a great friend, but would make a horrible stuffed animal.

Out in the dining room, Mister and Missus Tachikawa were just enjoying one another's company. The man sat at the table as his wife served him an odd meal. He took a bite and smiled. It looked weird, but it tasted great.

"I made this dish up, myself!" she smiled as she leaned on the counter, "I call it shrimp fried with whipped cream and strawberries! Well?"

"You've really outdone yourself this time, honey," he smiled at her.

"You mean it?" She asked, glowing with happiness, "Oh, I'm so glad you like it! You mean it?"

"I mean it," he told her with a grin.

"Really?" she asked again.

"Really," he nodded, the proud smile never leaving his face.

+-9

Joe could be found, that very evening, sitting outside of a testing center in the Shinbashi district, staring at the results of his test with despair.

"I can't believe I got a 'C'," he bemoaned his grade, "There goes med school, and dad wanted me to call right away and tell him my grades."

"A 'C'?" Gomamon asked, sticking his head out of the blue duffel bag Joe had taken to carrying him around in, "Forget about Myotismon, this is a real disaster!"

Joe just stared despondently at his test for a few seconds more before he grinned, "You're right. This grade is clearly the result of all the stress from the monster attacks."

"Well," the digital seal continued, "If you can't get into medical school, I'd try politics."

+-9

In the Ishida apartment, Matt was having some technical difficulties. He'd been showing Gabumon one of his favorite movies when the signal went kaput. All that he could get now was static. The digimon was sitting across from him at the table, staring at the screen.

"Oh, no," Matt complained, trying to change the channel to see if the result would be any better, but nothing worked, "Give me a break, come on!" he tried changing the channel from different positions, some of them just looking downright silly. Gabumon could only watch his partner with some amusement. "Aw man," the blonde boy sighed finally, "Right when it was about to get to the best part." He lay his head on the table sadly.

+-9

At the TV station in question, a man with dark blonde hair was just getting a drink from a vending machine. He pulled the left over change from the slot and opened his wallet to put it in when he paused at the picture of him and his family.

The picture contained himself, a woman with lighter blonde hair, and their two sons, TK and Matt a few years younger than they were currently. The family looked happy as they posed for that picture in a park. The man wondered what happened to those days.

The man looked up when he heard someone panting as they ran down the hall. He was just in time to see a young man in a green shirt, a red bandanna and round glasses run by.

"Hey!" he called after him, "What's going on, Charlie?"

Charlie, the man that had just run by, skidded to a halt and turned back to see the blonde man that was Matt's father.

"You're awake!" He wheezed, "I was just coming to get ya! The whole system's gone down! Transmitter, satellite feed, the whole shebang!"

"What?" he barked, frowning.

"If it's a system glitch, it's the Godzilla of all system glitches, and we can't even check it out 'cause communication is down, too!" Charlie told him, "It's like the end of the world or something."

+-9

Myotismon's dark laughter continued to ring through the night as he swirled the fog thicker and denser. It was getting to the point that it would, very easily, block out the sun.

"No one will escape," he grinned evilly, "Not even the ninth child!" His maniacal laughter could be heard, echoing away from the TV station for a good distance, unnerving more than a few who were up at that late hour.

+-9

In a subway station nearby, a group of train goers were waiting for their trains to finally come in and take them home. In particular was Joe who was waiting to take a train back to his neighborhood.

"_Due to a system's failure, all trains will be delayed indefinitely. We apologize for the inconvenience,_" the voice came over the intercom, making many of the people grow only more irritated. It was late, they were tired and they wanted to go home.

Hearing this, the boy moved over towards the payphones to call his family and tell them that he was going to be late because the trains weren't running at the moment. Unfortunately, all he got was a line of static. It reminded him eerily of his first day in the digital world, with the phone booths on the beach.

He took his card out of the machine, looking around as he spoke, "The pay phones aren't working either. I don't get it."

"It could be worse," Gomamon told him as he peeked out of the duffel bag, "We could be stuck on the train."

+-9

Back in the TV station, four people were standing together discussing the strange events. One was Matt's dad, the other was Charlie, there was a woman in a blue coat and a skirt with dark hair and the fourth was a somewhat chubby guy who had headphones on. He was listening to some self help mantras as he typed away at his computer, only paying attention to the others with half an ear.

"Everything started going wonky ever since that fog came in," Charlie told them.

"Even my cell phone isn't working," the woman said, "Of course, it wasn't working before, but still."

Mister Ishida had heard enough he pulled his jacket over his shoulders and moved towards the stairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" the woman asked.

"To earn my pay," Mister Ishida told her, "To investigate this thing. That's what I do, after all." He held up the plastic badge that proclaimed him to be an investigative reporter, a member of the free press.

"We'll come with you," the lady said, and Charlie agreed. The third man only belated realized the others were leaving and grabbed his stereo, following after them.

+-9

In the Kamiya apartment, Kari was standing at the window in her pajamas. She was peeking out from the curtains, looking off into the distance, where she'd last seen Gatomon. She just kept looking, hoping to see her partner had escaped from Myotismon and had come back to her, safe and sound.

But it was not to be. All she saw was more fog.

"Hey, Tai," the girl said softly, "Do you think Gatomon's okay?"

"Of course she is, Kari," Tai said, sitting up in his bunk and looking at his little sister, "First thing tomorrow, we'll go find her."

"Don't worry," Agumon assured the little girl as he stuck his head out, "I think we better go to bed. We'll need our rest to fight Myotismon. Don't want to fall asleep on the job, do ya?"

Kari sighed and closed the curtain again, "Okay." She climbed up into her bunk and pulled the blanket up to her neck.

"You scared, Kari?" Tai asked after his little sister.

"Not really," she replied, even though she pulled the blanket up over her head.

"Atta girl," he smiled a little, holding his Digivice before him looking at the time as it read ten fourty five PM, "Leave everything to me." He clutched the device, trying to draw strength from it the way Agumon did when he Digivolved.

+-9

In the Tachikawa apartments, Mimi and Palmon opened the door to her room and the girl spoke to her parents.

"I'm dying my clothes pink again," she told them for no discernible reason, quickly shoving Palmon back into the room when both her mother and father turned to look at her.

"Okay," her mother smiled happily at her. She was just so proud of her daughter. She was so pretty and creative. She couldn't be happier even if there were two of her.

+-9

Matt was still trying to get the TV to work after a quick shower, but no matter what station he turned it to, all he got was more static. He also noticed that his dad was still not home.

"Guess dad is working late again," he sighed, still trying to change the channel, "Something weird's going on, he told Gabumon.

+-9

On a bridge in and out of Odaiba, the roads were blocked off. There were men in grey jumpsuits with flashing lights and a big sign saying 'BEWARE OF FOG'. They were warding off travelers, noting the unsafe conditions. There was almost no chance that there _wouldn't_ be a wreck in this dense mess. All it would take would be someone hitting the breaks at the wrong time and boom, pile up.

Mister Ishida and his crew backed away from the bridge after their van had been waved off and they stopped on a side road by the water's edge. Mister Ishida pulled out a map and marked off all the exits they tried before circling the whole of Odaiba in red.

"The fogs disrupting our entire area," he told the other three.

"Why isn't any other part of town seeing fog?" Charlie asked.

"It's like an alien power is controlling the fog bank with magic or something," the woman said from the front of the van.

"Magic?" The third guy asked from the driver's seat, "Stop trying to scare me."

And just then, the ground shook.

"Keep quiet," Ishida ordered the other three as he turned off the car light so they wouldn't be noticed.

The group of three watched through the windows as a giant dinosaur, silhouetted against the night stomped by, snarling as it did. Luckily for them, it wasn't interested in one human vehicle. Especially one that didn't appear to have people in it.

After it had passed a little ways behind them, the third guy was trembling as he asked, "What's that?"

He was immediately shushed by the woman while Charlie leapt up, putting a hand over his mouth, "Keep it down!" he whispered frightfully.

"You both saw it?" the woman asked, also in whisper. The two men nodded and she crossed her arms. "Good. At least I know I'm not the only one going crazy," she said as she moved to get out of the van. Ishida, Charlie and the other guy did as well.

They looked at the area where the dinosaur passed and then back the way it came from. Ishida stood at the back of the van, keeping his eyes on the dark shape of the dino that had just stomped by.

"What's the connection?" he wondered aloud, "Somehow, the fog is tied in to these monsters we keep seeing." He was absolutely sure of it.

And then his attention was attracted to the woman's scream of fear and the growling of another monster coming up to them. Actually it was a pack of them. All about the size of a medium dog. The had fur on their bodies, four webbed feet, and spikes going down their backs.

"Let the humans scream," the one in the lead said as they hopped forward like a band of monster frogs, "it doesn't bother us Gizamon. We travel in packs creating terror whether on land or in the water!"

"Everyone!" Ishida shouted, knocking aside one of the Gizamon that leapt at him, "Get in the Car!" And the attack went on, more than a dozen of the little monsters attacking the four adults.

+-9

The next morning, TK and his mother were watching the news while they ate breakfast. They were privy to a scene of a helicopter flying around a giant bank of fog. IT wasn't acting like fog normally did, dissipating in the sunlight, or moving with the breeze. It just stayed around the Odaiba district.

"_An impenetrable fog has sealed off the main district of the city,_" A news caster informed those watching, "_Incoming reports also verify that all communications systems appear to have been rendered useless._"

TK dropped his spoon onto his plate and set it aside as he stood up, "I'm comin', Matt," he said firmly.

"TK!" his mother exclaimed, having no intention of letting her little baby go into that.

"I have to go," he turned to face her, a look of intense determination in his eyes, "You don't understand. Whatever happened, they'll need me there."

"Mm-mm," she shook her head.

"Aw, mom," the boy whined, "Matt is there, and so is dad. We can't just leave them."

The woman gasped as she realized that her son was right. They had to go.

"Alright then," she said, getting to her feet, "We'll go together. Get your coat, son."

TK just smiled as he ran off to do what she said.

+-9

In his bed room, Matt was sleeping rather peacefully, Gabumon right beside him. He was dreaming of beating Myotismon down, then singing a song about it in the band he hoped to start eventually.

"Wake up, son!" His father's voice intruded on his dreams and his shoulder was being prodded by, if the smell was anything to go by, the man's foot, "Get up and get dressed!"

"Mm," he mumbled as he rolled over to see his dad eating quickly as he tried to wake him up, "What is it?" He saw that the man was still in the previous evenings clothing and they were torn and scratched here and there, "Dad, what happened to you?"

"I'll tell ya later!" the man said, not meaning to sound so angry at his son, but there was no time for niceness or explanations, "Just get up and get dressed, okay?" he ordered the blonde boy.

+-9

Joe had spent the whole night in the train station, hoping something would let up. But nothing had. The trains hadn't started going to Odaiba, the phones still weren't working, and the crowd was only growing, not thinning out as more and more people that needed to get into the district started filing in.

Finally, the boy had enough waiting around. He got up and started to leave the station.

"Joe, where are you going?" Gomamon asked from inside the blue bag.

"Down to the pier," he whispered back to his digimon, "Maybe we can get in by boat."

+-9

In another train station, just inside Odaiba, Mister Kamiya had walked into the building expecting to be able to catch a train to work. What he found was a large crowd of disgruntled would be travelers waiting on trains since the evening prior.

"_An announcement will be made when service has been restored. We apologize for any inconvenience,_" the voice spoke over the intercom.

"Okay," the man breathed, wondering how he was gonna get to work now. Like most families on a budget, he didn't actually own a car.

Before he could get too deep into that train of thought, a ghostly moan filled the air along with the sound of screams of fear.

"Huh?" he looked over his shoulder, back the way he came, to see people running from a bunch ghostlike creatures being ordered about by another ghost carrying a large golden scythe in grey robes and wearing a red hood, a pendant that looked like a red eye, and a red cape, "What in the world is that thing?" Mister Kamiya shouted his question in his fear.

The evil digimon heard him and answered as he floated over towards the other subway goers, "I'm Phantomon," he explained in a deceptively laid back voice, "You don't want to be near me, or my frightening little friends when I start to swing my _Shadow Scythe_." And he swung the golden weapon even as he spoke, bringing down some of the scaffolding. The travelers were convinced by that that it would be a good idea not to fight against him. "Myotismon requests your presence, and he wont take no for an answer," He started herding the humans to another place.

+-9

In Sora's home, the girl was getting ready to go meet Tai at soccer practice. She needed to talk to him about possible places to find the Ninth child. Yesterday, when they'd been standing in the Tokyo tower, she'd realized the scope of the job they now had. It was probably gonna take weeks to pin down that Ninth Child, and that was if he or she was in one of their address books.

"Are you really going to soccer practice today?" Biyomon asked as she looked at the rooster shaped alarm clock the human girl used to wake up.

"Tai will be there, and I really need to talk to him about our plan of attack," Sora explained to her partner as she searched for her customary blue hat, "Besides," she smiled as she found it and slipped it on, "I could use the practice." she grabbed the soccer ball she had and her sports duffel and made to exit her home.

She came to the kitchen, and found her mother washing dishes as she usually was wont to do at this time of day, "Mom, I'm going to soccer," she told the woman, but got no response, "Mom?" still nothing, she sighed, "Well, I'll see you in a bit." The girl pulled on her shoes and left her home, jogging towards the soccer field.

Her mother was just staring blankly ahead as she washed the plates. She was contemplating her relationship with her daughter. It had been so strained ever since that one soccer match she wouldn't let her little girl play in. She sincerely hoped that hadn't broken the bond she had with her daughter. She just wished that Sora knew she loved her more than anything.

+-9

Tai sighed in annoyance as he stared at the phone in his hand, "Great, the phone's still out. He'd been trying to dial... anybody, since he woke up that morning. Kari was standing right next to him, the two of them in their usual day clothes.

"Oh, your poor father," their mother intoned, "I hop he's not stuck on the subway."

As she said this, both her kids turned to look at her. Tai noticed that the TV was playing some dumb video about a bunch of guys going to people's apartment and ringing the bell before it would cut out and play again.

"We're not watching that video again?" He complained as his mother started to clean off the table of their small dining room.

"The TV's still out, sweetie," Missus Kamiya said a little confused. She hadn't seen anything but static on the TV since earlier this morning when Mister Kamiya had woken up and tried to get the news.

Just then the doorbell rang, right in time with the video of the guys in the weird masks.

"I wonder who'd be dropping by, unannounced," the woman said, moving towards the door, "Coming! Hello?" She asked, wondering who exactly was at the door. With the way the last couple of days had been, she kind of expected it to be one of Tai's little friends. The door opened and there was a man in a green jumpsuit, wearing an odd mask on his face. If she had been able to see what her son and daughter saw on the TV, she'd have recognized the man from that video.

As it was, the only thing she could do was scream in fear as he pushed her down, then turned into a ghost monster, a bunch of the creatures flooding into the apartment.

Just as the kids were realizing what was happening, Agumon came out of their room, firing off a Pepper breath to scatter the Bakemon before they were able to grab either Tai or Kari.

"Agumon!" They exclaimed together, Tai's holding his little sister close for her protection. But the celebration wouldn't last long.

"Tai! Kari!" their mother cried their names, screaming as a bunch of the evil digimon dragged her away to who knows where.

+-9

At Mimi's building, the Ghost digimon had attacked, but weren't able to get the family right away.

"Run this way! To the elevator!" her father ordered, leading the family into the elevator. Mimi had woken up late, so hadn't even been able to change out of her pajamas before they were attacked, just barely having the where with all to wrap Palmon in the yellow sheet again and take her with them.

The doors to the elevator closed just in time to lock out the ghost digimon.

"Alright," Mister Tachikawa said, "we're all safe now." He held his wife and daughter close to himself as the elevator moved towards the ground floor.

"But honey," Missus Tachikawa began, "what are they?"

"It's a long story, mom," Mimi was the one to answer, just as the elevator doors opened and the elevator was flooded with Bakemon, grabbing at the family. Luckily, her baby brother was off visiting his grandma or he would be caught, too.

+-9

"_Spiral Twister!_" this cry was followed by swirling green fire sending a group of Bakemon flying out of the Takenouchi home. This was soon followed by a scream of fear.

Sora's mother, a dark haired woman in a mahogany shirt and grey pants, had fallen on her rump from surprise.

She was pointing accusingly at Biyomon as she spoke, "You just talked! I saw you! I thought you were just her stuffed animal!"

Biyomon turned around to face her partner's mother, "Well, life's full of surprises. Where's the soccer field?"

"It's down at the school," the woman informed what she now knew was not a normal animal, "Why do you ask?"

"All you need to know is Sora's in trouble," the bird turned back to the entrance of the house, "I've got to find her."

Hearing that her daughter was in trouble snapped Missus Takenouchi right out of her fear. She looked at the digimon that had just saved her from those ghosts and knew, without a doubt, that this one was different than the others.

+-9

Myotismon was flying through the air with Demidevimon keeping pace with him. He was explaining the plan so far.

"We'll start by separating the children from their parents," the vampire said gleefully, "Ah, how they'll scream and weep. Delicious!"

They soared through foggy sky, coming to the subway station where all the people were being herded. It had the largest areas available to keep all his would be victims.

As he looked over the crowds being led into the building, he reveled in his soon to be victory. Behind him. Gatomon was being lifted into the air by a chain.

"Guess you're not as powerful here in the human world as you thought you'd be," the cat said.

"Power isn't anything I'd concern myself with, if I were you," he told her, "Especially since you don't have any, you little traitor!" Gatomon just glared at him, promising herself that she'd never help him identify Kari as the Ninth Child.

+-9

Elsewhere, in an unfinished building, Matt and Gomamon stood before Mister Ishida.

"Now, will you tell me what happened dad?" Matt asked, his annoyance shining through in his tone.

"I hardly know myself," the man answered, "but I want you to stay here, out of sight." He stood up, preparing to leave.

"Where are you going?" the boy asked.

"The station," he sent a prominent look towards the TV station, visible from where they were, "to try to find someway to communicate with the outside world. Smoke signals, anything!" he looked towards his boy, "You'll be safe here. Stay with Gabumon."

"How do you know about me?" the digimon asked.

"But, dad, how?" Matt asked as his father walked down the steps, away from the two.

"Never mind how," he told his son, "Just be safe."

"You know, I think he likes me," Gabumon said to his human partner.

+-9

Back in Tai's apartment building, Tai, Kari and Agumon had fought their way down to the third floor of the building. There, they were confronted by a wall of Bakemon.

"I have to Digivolve!" Agumon exclaimed, "Get ready to climb on, you two!"

"Got it!" Tai nodded, keeping a hold of Kari.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" As the building exploded outwards from the dinosaur's evolution into a much bigger dinosaur, Tai and his little sister jumped up onto his shoulder.

The Bakemon were scattered by the sudden appearance of the giant dino. The people outside the building saw that there was another monster and quailed in fear.

"Oh, no! Another monster!" Missus Kamiya cried.

"Don't worry!" Tai yelled down to his mother, "This monster's on our side!" he turned to his large orange and blue friend then, "Get my mom, Greymon, hurry!"

The big digimon moved to do as he was told, but he would not make it.

"_Shadow Scythe_," this announcement would coincide with a debilitating wound being opened up on Greymon's left arm.

The wound didn't bleed so much as it sprayed dark energy. The poor dino roared in unbelievable amounts of pain.

"Well, Greymon," Phantomon said in that eerily calm voice of his, "it looks like your time is up," he turned to his Bakemon minions, "get the rest of the crowd."

"No! Stop!" Missus Kamiya cried as she tried to get to her babies.

"_Nova Blast!_" Greymon roared as he tried to fire a blast at Phantomon, but the digimon in the red hood just disappeared before the attack could hit, "Sorry, Tai, I'm losing it. We'll get your mom later." He promised before he started to stomp off.

"Wait!" called out the voice of a small digimon. The two kids looked over their shoulders to see a certain monkey dodging around the Bakemon, sending whirlwinds at those that got too close.

"Skymomon!" Tai called, "Where's Lucy?"

The monkey landed in his arms and said, "The Bakemon got her. She told me to run 'til I found one of you guys to tell you what happened. We gotta save her!"

"We will, Skymomon," the wild haired boy said, "But we can't right now. We've got to get someplace where Greymon can safely change back to Agumon and figure out how we're going to rescue everyone."

With that, the giant dinosaur continued stomping away and out of sight. Phantomon didn't come back to stop them, and none of the Bakemon were feeling like taking on something so big right at that moment.

"Kari! Tai!" their mother cried one last time as she was pulled along with the flow of the crowd.

+-9

At the soccer field, the only thing that Biyomon and Missus Takenouchi found were a bunch of soccer balls, Sora's hat and, strangely enough, a couple of Bakemon sheets they could use to infiltrate the place where Sora and everyone else were being held.

"We'll follow them and find out where they've taken her," the girl's mother proclaimed as she looked a her little girl's hat.

"But will it work?" Biyomon asked uncertainly.

"We'll see," the woman said simply.

+-9

At the subway station, with Bakemon floating through the air, Sora sat by herself, sadly thinking about how dumb she was not to bring Biyomon with her. She knew that monster attacks were happening all over the city. Why wouldn't they happen right in her proverbial back yard.

She was actually kind of moping when a pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and a friendly voice said her name, "Sora! It's you!" she looked over her shoulder to find Mimi in her pajamas still. The ghosts hadn't let her go back to her room to get changed.

"Oh no, Mimi," the girl said to her friend, "they got you too?" Mimi just nodded.

"Psst!" Palmon hissed to grab their attention, lifting the sheet enough to reveal her face, "I can Digivolve at any time. Just say the word." She had remained in hiding so far to keep the people from panicking further at the sight of her.

The two girls looked around the station and thought about that option, "There's too many people, and too many of them," Sora nodded her head towards the Bakemon, "Let's see how this plays out. You'll be our trump card for later."

"Right!" The plan nodded with a smile, covering up again.

"I can't stand it! I can't stand not knowing!"

That made Sora look up.

"Calm down dear," a male voice replied to the female one.

"How can I calm down? For all we know that monster's devoured the children by now!" The woman was hiding her face behind her hands, trying to fight back tears in front of all the people there.

Sora recognized the man and woman as Tai's mother and Father. And if he and his little sister weren't here, that must mean that Agumon had become Greymon to get them out of danger. That would be rather frightening for a person not in the know.

She moved over to the two distraught parents and tried to reassure them, "Don't worry, he's one of ours."

"Huh?" The mother and father looked up at the girl, wondering what she meant.

"There's a lot more where he came from. We've got some powerful friends," she tried to show them that she wasn't worried, so they shouldn't be either, "Besides, we've got truth and justice and all that good stuff on our side."

+-9

Just outside the building Biyomon and Sora's mom were getting ready to go in. So far they hadn't been bothered too much by the Bakemon. They just told the other ghost digimon that they were afraid of heights, that's why they stayed right near the ground. Some of the ghosts agreed, saying that flying too high was just crazy.

"Well," Biyomon said from under her disguise, "if you can't beat 'em join 'em."

"Now, let's go inside and find Sora," Missus Takenouchi said.

"Right!" the bird chirped, about to move forward when the adult human kneeled beside her.

"Wait," she told the digimon, "This may be a strange question, but Sora, did she ever say... did she tell you..." she paused again, dreading the answer to this question, "Does Sora hate me?"

"What?" Biyomon turned to look at the woman in disguise, "Oh boy, you've got it all wrong. Sora thought you hated her," the woman gasped and Biyomon rushed to fill in the blanks before it got bad, "See, she was really upset that you wouldn't let her play soccer that one time. She thought you were doing it because you just didn't want her to play, but after we were fighting a big meanie named Myotismon, she realized that you were just trying to keep her safe. She knew because she did the same for me. She knows you love her and she loves you, too."

"Sora," the woman breathed happily, relieved to know that.

+-9

"How could it be any worse?" The woman from Ishida's investigative press team asked. She was sitting near Mister and Missus Takenouchi, Mister and Missus Kamiya, Sora, Mimi and the rest of the team, aside from Ishida himself. She was a little surprised then when a foam covered hand landed on her shoulder.

"Try working for minimum wage in a foam-rubber suit with kids kicking you all the time, right guys?" a man in a green dinosaur suit asked two other grown men dressed as characters from a childrens' show.

Suddenly, Missus Tachikawa cleared her throat as she stood up.

"What's up mom?" Mimi asked.

The woman frowned, taking a deep breath and holding her hands before her chest, "I just can stay in this place one second longer."

"Well," her husband began, standing up right ext to her, "you've been wanting to get away. Just think of this as a vacation."

"Who asked you to talk?!" Missus Tachikawa snapped, then went back to being meek again, "I'm sorry, children, I didn't mean to yell, it's just that I'm not used to being held captive by creatures from another world."

"Don't worry, lady," Charlie told her, "You'll get used to it."

"But I don't wanna get used to it!" she sobbed, the tears coming out profusely as she rambled on, yelling out, "I wanna go home and sleep in my own bed! I wanna live life to the fullest! I wanna clean Lint out of my dryer! I wanna pick up after my doggy! I wanna know what's happening on my soap operas!" after her long list of wants she sobbed one more time before the tears suddenly dried up and she had a serene smile on her face again and she was speaking in a much calmer voice, "I'm so glad I got that off my chest," she leaned into Mister Tachikawa who had a grin on his face.

"Enough of this," Sora said, stepping forward, "We need a plan!"

The woman from Ishida's team said, "Yeah, Jeremiah," she was talking to the man listening to his stereo with headphones, "Why don't you help us instead of listening to those mind over matter tapes all the time?"

That caused Sora to gasp with a sudden epiphany. She remembered being back on File Island, when she and Joe had gotten separated from the rest of the crew. They had run into a swarm of Bakemon then, too, and Joe had figured out how to beat him. Mind over matter. He said some Roman guy came up with it, a long time ago. She thought it was crazy, but it had worked.

"That's it!" Sora exclaimed happily, "We need some of you to attack the Bakemon, creating a diversion, while the rest of us come up with a mind over matter chant!"

"What's that mean?" Missus Kamiya asked.

"Just do what she says, alright?" Mister Kamiya told his wife, standing up and rallying the people in their group for the fight they were about to start, "Half of you come with me. Let's do it!"

Mister Kamiya, leading Charlie, the three guys in the foam-rubber costumes, and the lady from Ishida's team started a proper riot against the Bakemon. They were using brooms and mops and what little martial arts they knew from kung fu movies. It was surprisingly effective. And the crowd of fighters got bigger as they went, people jumping into the fight as it passed them by.

While they did that, Sora had finished her recording on Jeremiah's stereo and was leading another group of people towards the exit.

"Women and children, follow me," the dark haired woman called, leading the group towards the exit. A group of Bakemon rushed them and Sora moved in front of them, pressing play and holding up the stereo.

Immediately it began blasting four words over and over, "Bakemon, lose your power. Bakemon, lose your power. Bakemon, lose your power." The ghost digimon dropped out of the air and the group continued to run out of the station.

"We made it!" Missus Tachikawa cried once the group, that had gotten much, much larger, were outside, "We made it, at last!" The fog was still blocking out the full sunlight, but being outside was awesome at this point.

Well, it was, until they heard the growling of something monstrous. Turning around revealed to the crowd a giant black dino with red stripes and blue eyes. It was looking at them with those eyes, too.

"Oops," Mimi's mother quailed, "spoke to soon!"

"It's Darktyrannomon," Palmon said, looking out from under the sheet, "He was actually a nice guy once, before he was taken over by an evil computer virus and his personality did a one eighty!"

Mister Tachikawa saw the problem and reacted. He pulled his wife away from himself, and ran off.

"Where are you going?" Mimi's mother asked, seeing him go back the way they just came from.

Not running away, the man was actually going back to retrieve a motorized luggage cart. He started it up and drove it toward the large, black digimon, "You couldn't be in safer hands!" He yelled as he drove at the monster, intending to crash the cart at its feet.

But before he could get there, he and the cart were swept aside by a single claw with the greatest of ease. The cart rolled until it hit a giant saw monument nearby.

"Dad!" Mimi yelled, worried for her father. She only barely noticed it as Palmon began to digivolve.

"Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!" The giant cactus digimon didn't waste a moment, leaping at the dinosaur and swinging her fists energetically, "Back to the stone age with you!" she landed an uppercut to its jaw that knocked it flat on its back.

At the same time, Missus Tachikawa and Mimi ran over to her father. He was a little sore, but fine.

"Honey bunch, are you okay?" Her mother pleaded.

The man pushed himself to his knees where his wife and daughter moved to support him, "I guess I made a fool of myself, huh?"

"Mm-mm!" his wife shook her head in the negative, "Don't be ridiculous. That was the bravest thing I ever saw!"

"Really?" he asked with a smile.

"Really," she nodded with a smile of her own.

"You mean it?" he asked again.

"I mean it," she pulled him into a loving hug.

"Oh, honey!" He nuzzled her. She just hummed lovingly, holding on to her husband dear.

"Uh, mom, dad," Mimi said, "I hate to ruin this love fest, but maybe we should run for cover or something," just as she was saying this, Togemon was body slammed to the ground by the Darktyrannomon. He took a deep breath and breath a deadly gout of fire at the cactus digimon. "No!" Mimi cried, seeing this happen, "Togemon! It's no use! Save yourself!"

"I've got it under control, no problem," the desert plant digimon got back to her feet, right before Mimi's eyes, diving back into the fight, but the girl could hear the pain and strain in her partner's voice.

"Oh, this is the end," she gasped. She watched as a group of Bakemon herded the crowd back into the subway station, Sora nowhere to be seen, "It's over! Myotismon will rule the world," tears began gathering in the corner of her eyes, a frown forming on her face, "This is terrible! Now, my family is going to suffer and so are my friends! There's got to be something I can do!" She glared up at the monster that was attacking Togemon and the ghosts that were flying around, scaring the people. She didn't notice as a single tear fell out of her eyes and her Crest began to glow with the light of her sincere desire to stop people from behind hurt.

She did notice, though, when her Digivice focused its energy through her Crest, sending the symbol of Sincerity into Togemon.

"Togemon, Digivolve to Lilymon!" What was once a giant cactus was now a human sized pixy, colored in pinks and greens. She was petite, with a large pink rose on her head, green vines draping down from the back. She had yellow cuffs over her hands that were made from flower. She was wearing a pink body suit that had no sleeves and formed into an upside down rose for a skirt. She had green boots on her feet and green wings made of large leaves and resembled the wings of a dragonfly.

Sensing the power of the digimon before it, Darktyrannomon backed off a step or two.

"Where'd she come from?" Mimi asked, stunned.

"_Flower Cannon!_" Lilymon called out, holding her hands together in front of her. They formed into a large, yellow rose that bloomed open to show a cannon barrel. Then she fired a green bolt of energy at the dinosaur. Compared to Togemon's fist, that little blast of green was miniscule. But the difference in power was similar as well. Darktyrannomon found himself sliding backwards from the hit.

"Whoa!" Mimi breathed, "Who are you?"

"It's just li'l old me," the pixie said as she flew around in the air, "I guess I should say, li'l old us, seeing as I'm Palmon and Togemon. I'm just their fully evolved form, Lilymon! Still think I'm in bad taste?"

Mimi shook her head with a smile, staring up at the digimon with stars in her eyes for her friend's evolution, "No way, I'm sorry I ever said that, Lilymon!"

"No biggie," the pixie winked, then dodged out of the way of the attacking dinosaur, "Woopsie, you'll have to be quicker than that!"

"Be careful," Mimi cried, watching her digimon fly around the monster.

"Your wish to protect your family and friends brought me into existence," she smiled down at her partner, "You're a really good girl, even if your wardrobe sometimes clashes."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked, a wondering look on her face.

"Later," Lilymon told her, "Right now, I have a dinosaur to tame."

With that said, the digimon began to fly a fast circuit around Darktyrannomon's neck. In a flash, there was suddenly a necklace of flowers around the big guys throat and he stopped attacking.

"That should do it," the pixie said, "My Flower Ring counteracted the virus. Now, he should be as cuddly as a giant lamb." Indeed, the dinosaur moved up to her, smiling as best it could when she patted its snout, "Nice Tyrannomon, thatta boy."

+-9

At the pier, Joe was leaning against a railing, away from a long, long line of people who also wanted to catch a ferry into Odaiba. He was obviously not the only one with that idea.

"I should have known," he sighed, "I guess the boats wouldn't be running when nothing else is."

"It could be worse," Gomamon told him, sitting up out of the duffel bag.

"Please stop saying it could be worse," Joe said exasperatedly, "I have news for ya, pal, it is worse. The whole world is stuck in turmoil and we're waiting for a ride into town!"

The seal digimon blinked a couple times, then said, "We might as well just give up right now."

"I wouldn't go that far, Gomamon," Joe said, "After all, it could be worse."

+-9

Running beside a building that was under construction, Tai was carrying Agumon, who was still hurt from his brief clash with Phantomon. Skymomon and Kari were following him closely, the two of them, just as worried, but for slightly different reasons.

"You okay, Agumon?" The wild haired boy asked.

"I've felt better," the dinosaur sighed as it rode piggy back.

"Tai!" Matt called, catching a glimpse of the boy and his little sister as they ran by.

"Huh?" the small group of four turned around.

"Up here!" The blonde waved to the other two kids and the digimon with them.

"Matt, is that you?" Tai called, then got a good look at the other boy, "Hey, we need to talk!"

They filed into the building quickly, Kari taking care of Agumon while Tai and Skymomon explained the situation to Matt and Gabumon.

"No way," the blonde breathed.

"No, it's true! Kari's the Ninth Child," Tai told him simply, Skymomon nodding along with him.

+-9

In another part of the station, Sora had gone looking for other people she could help escape. She had the stereo with her, playing the chant full blast, but she unfortunately found a ghost type digimon that it wasn't working on.

The stereo was cut in two and knocked from her hands after Phantomon swung his scythe at it.

"Enough!" Phantomon said, not feeling laid back after seeing that stereo take out his minions so easily, "That new age psycho babble wont help you where you're going, my pretty little miss. Seize her! Take her away!"

Two Bakemon moved in to grab Sora, the girl preparing to struggle for all she was worth when the two stopped, turned to face Phantomon and said, "Boo!"

"Wha?" he gave his equivalent of raising an eyebrow. He watched then as one of his Bakemon exploded, becoming Birdramon, "Oh, it's just a bird. Large bird, I grant you," he said as it came closer, "A large, angry bir-ah!" He didn't even think to dodge as the fire bird smashed into him and his minions.

The other Bakemon through off her disguise as well, revealing Sora's mother.

The two embraced each other tightly, her mother whispering her name, "Sora."

"Oh, mom," the girl breathed as they pulled apart, "I'm so-"

"There's no time, now, honey," Missus Takenouchi interrupted her, "You've got to get out of here!" She handed her daughter her favorite hat, "Hurry!"

"But," she looked up at her mother, "What about you?"

Just as she was saying this, more Bakemon came around, getting ready to attack.

"Get moving!" Missus Takenouchi ordered her daughter, "I'll be fine!"

"No! Mother!"

+-9

"We won!" Mimi exclaimed, looking up at her partner treating the dinosaur like an overgrown puppy.

"We'll see about that!" Myotismon growled as he appeared out of a dark portal, "Back to the digital world with you!" Another portal opened, sending the Darktyrannomon back to the Digiworld, leaving only the ring of flowers to prove he'd been there.

"You are such a bad sport," Lilymon said to him, her wings buzzing.

"You meddlesome, little flower child," the vampire growled at her, "It's time I plucked your petals. _Crimson Lightning!_" The red energy whip lashed across the air at the flower pixie.

Chapter Thirty Two: End

Please Enjoy.


	33. Chapter 33 City Under Siege

Chapter Thirty Three: City Under Siege

"_Flower Cannon!_" Lilymon had just managed to dodge Myotismon's attack and positioned herself for a straight shot at the evil digimon. Her hands formed into the yellow rose that bloomed open into a cannon barrel and the green ball of energy traveled through the air at the man shaped monster.

It struck him with the same force it had hit Darktyrannomon with, if not more. But it was still not enough to cause Myotismon any worry, let alone damage. He tore the energy in the attack apart with his hands, looking directly at Lilymon like she was dumb for even trying such a pitiful attack on him.

"Do you expect to beat me with geraniums?" he asked mockingly before he prepared yet another attack he had saved up, "_Nightmare Claw!_" He stood with his cape spread out behind him and his arms and legs slightly spread in a strong stance. His dark energies were focused through his whole frame until it manifested as the attack he'd just announced. It appeared as a face made of shadow that traveled quickly through the air, striking poor Lilymon before she could dodge it.

The visible effect was immediate. Her colors darkened. For a stray second, she thought that would be the only thing to happen. Then the pain started. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Then, instead of just her colors darkening, her entire form turned into shades of gray.

On the ground, Mimi could only watch in horror, "Lilymon!"

On the platform above Mimi, but below the aerial fight, Sora and her mother were fighting off a pack of Bakemon.

"Get out of here, Sora, now!" her mother ordered her, slapping the Bakemon suit she'd been wearing earlier at the evil ghost digimon.

"But what about you, mom?" the girl asked, not willing to just leave her mother without at least trying to help her.

"Just go!" the woman snapped.

Above them, Myotismon took advantage of Lilymon's weakness in the face of his last attack, "_Grizzly Wing!_" the flower pixie was able to see the swarm of bats coming and knew she should dodge, but she just couldn't. Her body wouldn't listen to her commands. Whatever Myotismon had done to here was already taking its toll on her. As of yet, she could barely move her head.

When the bats began biting and clawing at her, she finally began to fall out of the air. Luckily, that took her out of the path of the rest of the flock of bats, but she still fell nearly fifty feet to a walkway below. Just as she hit the ground, Mimi had made it up to the landing and saw more of the bats flying right at her partner.

"Oh, no!" she cried out, "They're gonna get her!" Just as she was realizing she was about to watch her friend and partner be deleted, Birdramon streaked by in a low to the ground flight.

"_Meteor Wing!_" The fiery onslaught was enough to destroy the bats flying right at Lilymon, and, to make sure it didn't happen again, the fire bird swooped by and grabbed the pixie gently in one of her talons.

"Sora, get out!" Mimi called, seeing the girl and her mother on another walkway, "He's way too strong!"

At the same time, Sora's mother was basically telling her the same thing, "What are you waiting for?" She demanded, swiping the costume at the real Bakemon before her, "Get away from her, you, you things!" Missus Takenouchi shouted as she fearlessly fought against the digimon.

Sora could only watch in awe. She couldn't believe that, less than a week ago, she thought this woman didn't love her. How could she have ever been so wrong.

"Sora," the woman turned around to face her daughter for only a moment, "Go!" But it was enough.

The red headed girl finally did as she was told. With more Bakemon on either side of her, there was no way to go except over the railing. She noticed Birdramon approaching and took the chance. She stepped up onto the rail and launched herself into the air. The giant flaming bird came in, just low enough for Sora to latch on to one of her talons, Lilymon in the other, and she began a quick flight of escape.

"I'll come back just as soon as I find the others!" Sora yelled back over her shoulder, "Don't worry, mom!"

Luckily for her, the girl didn't have to see it as her mother and Mimi were taken by the Bakemon.

+-9

In the building under construction, right across from the TV station. Agumon, Skymomon, Gabumon and Kari were sitting together in one area while Tai and Matt were discussing what was happening, a short distance away.

"Poor Agumon," Kari said softly as she wrapped the dinosaur's right paw in makeshift bandages, "You're always getting beat up," she finished by tying it off and looked up at the partner of her brother, "There, how does that feel?"

"You're getting good at this," Agumon told her, getting the girl to smile and laugh happily.

"No way!" Tai's voice carried over to them. The little girl and the three digimon turned to see what was going on now.

"Way!" Matt responded, "It's true! I saw the whole thing!"

"That creepazoid!" the wild haired boy insulted the evil vampire digimon, "He's cut off the whole, entire district!"

Matt nodded then turned to look up at the mist obscured sky, "It's that crazy fog bank of his!"

"This is insane," Tai clenched a fist before himself, "Holding thousands of people prisoner? Just so he can find the Ninth Child!"

"And there's no telling what he'll do if he doesn't find her," Matt added, hands in his pockets.

Tai was feeling too angry. He couldn't contain it. So, instead of doing something stupid, he kicked a soda can left over by one of the construction workers. It bounced around a little bit as he sat down on a pallet of powdered cement.

Finally, the can came to a stop at Kari's feet, the girl looking at the two older boys sadly.

"This is all my fault, isn't it?" she asked.

"Huh?" Tai intoned.

"It's all happening because he's looking for me, right?" she sighed, "That's why mom and dad and everybody are-"

"Now, don't say that," her brother told her as he got to his feet, placing his hands on her shoulders, "It's not your fault, it's just the way things are. It's called 'Destiny'," he kneeled before the eight year old, looking her in the eye with a smile on his face, "Now, don't you worry. I'm gonna bring mom and dad back home, safe and sound! Heh, and your little buddy, Gatomon, too!" he stood up then, turning to the blonde boy over his shoulder, "Hey, Matt, do me a favor and look after her 'til I get back!"

"Uh, sure, no problem," the other boy said, sounding less sure about this than he wanted to.

Tai smiled at that before turning back to Kari, "Kari, I need you to be a big, strong girl for me while I'm away."

"Okay," the little girl said softly as she finally looked up at her brother, "Please, be careful."

"Hey, aren't I always?" he asked with a thumbs up.

"No," a voice wheezed from the entrance, "You're normally a bull headed monkey on an adrenaline rush, but don't let my opinion stop you," the group turned to look, expecting one of Myotismon's minions. What they got instead was Lucy.

At least, they thought it was Lucy. Her skin was pale, there were bags under her eyes, she was shivering and she was leaning against one of the pillars near the door weakly, like she'd fall to the ground without its support.

"Lucy!" Skymomon cried, rushing forward, soon followed by Matt, Tai and the rest.

"Lucy, what happened to- whoa!" Tai had reached out to grab her shoulder and he noticed two things right off the bat. One, despite her shivering, she was hot enough to fry an egg on, and two, she was drenched in sweat.

"What happened to you?" Matt asked. She looked like Devimon had warmed over.

"I think," she huffed a breath, "I'm a little sick."

"I think that's an understatement," Agumon said.

Skymomon was holding her partner's hand in her two, heedless of the extreme amounts of moisture that was soaking her little palms, "What's wrong, Lucy?"

"Wish I knew," she wheezed.

"How did you escape?" Tai asked, "Where are they keeping everyone?"

"Didn't escape," Lucy told him, "On the way to... wherever, mom pushed me into a bush. The Bakemon didn't notice. Just woke up. Heard voices over here," she took a deep breath. The kids heard nothing when she did, no congestion in her lungs, so they knew that she could at least breath well enough.

"Oh, man," Matt breathed, "You need to get to a hospital, or at least a warm bed," he said to the pink haired girl.

"And until we defeat Myotismon, we can't get to one," Tai said, clenching his fists, "Listen, Matt-"

"I know, I'll watch after her too," the blonde interrupted him, "Just go rescue the others, Tai. Then we can take on Myotismon and get this over with.

"Right," he looked to his Digivice, seeing it was seven thirty in the morning, "Give me two hours. If we don't make it back by then, you guys get out of here," he turned to his digimon, "Let's go, Agumon!"

"Okay!" the yellow digimon nodded and the two ran off.

"Be careful, man!" Matt called after them.

"Dude, everything is gonna be alright!" Tai waved back at the group, a confident grin on his face.

Once he was out of sight, Matt turned back to Lucy who had her eyes closed, suggesting she was asleep again, even as she leaned against the pillar. He hooked one arm under her legs and the other behind her back, picking her up and carrying her further into their hiding spot.

"Gabumon, set out some of those bags of concrete for her to rest on," he ordered his partner.

"Right," the fur wearing digimon moved off quickly to do as he was told.

"Skymomon, Kari," he turned to those two, "I need you guys to go to that water faucet over there," he nodded towards one with a hose attached to it," and turn it on to just a trickle. She's gonna need water, both to drink and to help cool her down."

"Ahuh!" the monkey nodded along with Kari.

"Is she gonna be okay?" the little girl asked before she started moving.

"I hope so," the blonde breathed.

+-9

In the Izumi apartment, Izzy was just sitting down at his desk. He opened up his lap top and pulled up his icons to find a chibi version of Gennai delivering a letter.

"Look, an email from Gennai!" he exclaimed to Tentomon.

"Greetings," the old man's voice came out of the speakers on the computer, "Salutations from cyberspace."

"Oh, get to the point!" Tentomon grumbled.

"This is no time for pleasantries," the message went on, "You're in a tight spot, eh? First thing to do is put up a digital barrier."

"A digital what?" Izzy frowned in confusion.

"You're probably wondering what that is. Well, download the program and I'll explain," the old man's voice informed him. Even as he spoke, Izzy connected his lap top to his desk top with a USB wire and started following the instructions to set up the barrier. "If you can put it up in time, the digital barrier will protect you."

As this was going on, Tentomon could see people being herded about by the mass group of Bakemon and he could hear the screams of other people in their apartment block being abducted.

"The Bakemon are getting closer every second!" Tentomon panicked, "Can't you go any faster, Izzy?"

"I'm trying!" Izzy replied, Typing as fast as his fingers would allow, but having to wait for the program to boot up for it to do any good. "I told dad I need a quicker modem," he grumbled to himself.

+-9

At the Hinode ferry terminal, people who were desperately hoping to get into Odaiba by boat were about to be majorly disappointed. TK and his mother were among the crowd as a man in the terminal's uniform stood up on a desk with a loud speaker in hand.

"Uh, we're sorry, but because of fog conditions, no ferries will be running to the district until further notice," the man said. This did not make the crowd happy.

"What'll we do in the mean time?" one man demanded angrily.

"Please, bear with us," the man in the uniform said, "We're doing everything we can. We just have to wait for the fog to lift.

"I'm getting a bad feeling from this crowd," TK's mother said, turning to look at the boy, "I think maybe we should be going, TK."

Before the boy could answer, another man shouted, his fist raised in the air, "Hey, what do you suggest I do? My families in there!"

"Mine, too!" A woman added to the mix. People began to rush the front desk, demanding service. The rush of bodies nearly bowled TK and his mother over.

"Please remain calm," the man with the mega phone called out.

"You stay calm!" another person shouted.

"In cases of an emergency, you might try renting a boat down at the harbor," the employee tried to placate the crowd, "That's all I can suggest for now, I'm sorry."

TK, squished between two adults, noticed that someone was missing, "Mommy?"

In another part of the crowd, his mother had noticed immediately that he was not there, "TK! Where are you!" Before they could try to find one another by voice alone, the crowd shifted and surged. There was a rush people going both in and out, some to find rented boats, others to bug the workers at the terminal more.

"Mommy!" TK cried as he was pushed outside by the crowd of panicking people.

+-9

At the same time, in Izzy's apartment building, the Bakemon, led by Phantomon, were tearing down apartment doors and getting to the people inside.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," came the deceptively calm voice of the evil digimon carrying the golden scythe.

Just one floor below him, only one door had been left unmolested so far, and that was to the Izumi apartment.

In his room, Izzy was coaxing the progress bar along, "Come on! Come on!" he whispered anxiously.

Just as it was passing the halfway point, his parents came into his room. His mother was wielding a frying pan and his father had a golf club in hand.

"Izzy, it's time to go," his mother said, seeing him still messing around on his computer despite the emergency going on outside.

"We have to get out of here!" his father added.

"No," he turned to face them, "Believe it or not, we'll be safer here!" He turned back to the screen of his computer, tapping at the keys again, trying to make the download smoother and quicker.

"What are you talking about, Izzy?" Missus Izumi asked, "Those creatures will be at our door, any minute!"

"Trust me," he told her, not turning around, "I know what I'm doing. Just give me another couple of minutes here."

His mother looked at his back for a second before a frown crossed her face and she moved forward, grabbing the boy by his shoulder, "No. You are coming, now!" She tried to pull him out of his seat.

"Mom, let me go!" the tech genius cried, struggling to stay at his computer, "Mom, you don't understand!" They didn't know that a Bakemon and Phantomon were finally moving to their door.

"No, you don't understand," she said back to him, "This isn't the time! Now, will you please leave that computer alone and come on!" She tugged again, but Izzy wasn't going quietly.

A hand on her shoulder made her stop and look at her husband as he said, "Dear, maybe he knows what he's doing. Let's trust the boy, alright? The kids seem to know more about it than we do."

"You're right," she nodded, realizing he was telling the truth. She let go of Izzy's shoulder and stood right next to her husband, the two of them giving the boy encouraging smiles.

"Go for it, son!" his father said.

A smile painted itself on the boy's face at those words and he went back to typing rapidly.

Just outside, Phantomon was raising his Scythe to cut the door down, "Next. Trick or treat!" he swung the golden weapon.

At that exact moment, the download finished and Izzy finalized the set up for the digital barrier.

"Digital barrier coming on, now!" He pressed the Enter key and a bright light filled the room, blinding the boy, his digimon and his parents.

A half second later, Phantomon and a few Bakemon stormed the apartment. One entered the boy's room with its sharp teeth bared, but it stopped and blinked as it looked around the room.

Bakemon saw the world in a constant shade of red. Not infrared, or anything, just like red tinted glasses. It blinked in confusion as it looked in the room, seeing nothing in the room but air and a floating golf club.

"Huh?" the creature hummed, "That's funny. I could have sworn... huh," the monster didn't know it, but he was so close to the two adults in the room that they could smell his putrid breath. The woman was quaking in fear and her husband was only doing marginally better while Izzy and Tentomon watched on silently.

"There's no one here," Phantomon said, "Let's get moving!" He left then, followed by the pair of Bakemon that had followed him into the apartment.

Izzy's mother and father had no idea what just happened, but were glad the monsters had left. They sank to their knees in relief.

"It worked! The digital barrier is in place!" Tentomon exclaimed. Unfortunately, he forgot that his partners parents didn't know that he could talk yet. The two of them were suddenly alert again, looks of fear on their face. They turned around to see Tentomon standing there, hoping he hadn't talked. "Oops," he sweat dropped realizing his mistake while Izzy palmed his face, "Well, now that you know I can talk, my name's Tentomon. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Missus Izumi had suffered as many surprises as she could in such a short amount of time. With an almost wistful sigh, the woman fainted. Luckily, Mister Izumi was there to catch her.

+-9

In the convention center, the adults had been separated from the children, just as the evil vampire had said, and they were all being forced to remain sitting or face the consequences. There would be no more riots.

Mister and Missus Kamiya were glaring up at Demidevimon, wondering what it was that these monsters were going to do next.

"Well, what are you going to do with us?" Mister Kamiya demanded, getting to his feet.

"Now what's going to happen?" Another woman asked.

Demidevimon just grinned cruelly before responding to their queries, "Well, if I told you now, it would just ruin the surprise that's coming. In the mean time, why doesn't everybody just take a little nap!" He glared at them all and reddish pink waved of energy came out of his eyes, hypnotizing the humans and sending them into a deep sleep. Once everyone was snoozing, rather peacefully, the bat digimon began laughing maniacally. He wasn't able to pull it off as well as Myotismon.

In another part of the building, the Bakemon were forcing the children to form a line before Gatomon, bringing them up to the cat, one at a time, trying to make her identify the Ninth Child, if she was among them.

"It's not him," she said softly, "Not her," another girl was brought forward, tears in her eyes, "Not her either."

"Beware, Gatomon," the voice of Myotismon could be heard behind the cat as a dark portal opened up and the vampire showed his pretty face, "If you lie to me, I will simply destroy them all."

The cat gasped, hanging her head in defeat while the children began to cry more profusely. Mimi was in the crowd as well, but hadn't peen picked out by the vampire when he arrived and was trying not to do anything that would attract his attention. She didn't even have Lilymon there to protect her, and even if she did, the pixie alone would not be enough to stop the evil digimon.

+-9

Just outside the ferry terminal, Joe had barely escaped the rushing crowds with his limbs intact. He breathed a little heavily as he made it to an area where no one was running about.

"I thought we were gonna be goners," he wheezed to his duffel bag.

"Joe!" A voice cried happily. The blue haired boy turned his gaze to the right, only to find TK and Patamon.

"Hey, TK," he smiled at the blonde eight year old.

"I thought you'd be in town with the others," the little boy told him.

"No, I was across the harbor when the power went out," the blue haired boy exclaimed. A fog horn sounded then, drawing their attention out into the bay. The swirling mists were only seeming to get thicker and thicker, no matter the height of the sun in the sky.

"So," TK said, after a moment of contemplation, "We're both stuck out here, while everyone else is in there."

"Yeah," Joe sighed, "Who knows what Myotismon is planning to do in that evil blanket of fog."

"Nothing good," the little boy assured him.

Suddenly, a frown crossed Joe's face as he kept a careful grasp on his duffel bag, "Alright, enough talk. It's time for action. We've gotta get there!"

"I know," TK turned to face the elder boy, "What'll we use to get across?"

The blue haired boy smiled and held his duffel before him, "This is what. The answer's right here."

He set the bag on the ground and Gomamon popped out, "Ta-da!"

"Gomamon!" TK exclaimed.

The seal took a deep breath and said, "Ah, fresh air!"

Patamon couldn't help laughing excitedly as he took to the air, hovering just over Gomamon and between TK and Joe.

The blue haired boy turned to his partner.

"Are you ready to try it?" he asked.

"Sure, if you are," the seal replied.

Inside the terminal, TK's mom, Miss Takaishi, was still doing her best to find her little boy, "TK! TK, where are you?" But even if the boy had been in the building, he wouldn't have been able to hear her shouts over the roar of the crowd.

Back outside, Gomamon quickly Digivolved into Ikkakumon and jumped into the bay. Unfortunately, there were so many people near the terminal and filling up the docks that there was no way he would go unnoticed.

"All aboard," he said in his growly voice to the two kids and Patamon, just as a man was beginning to freak out at the sight of him.

"It's another one!" The man cried, pointing at the white furred digimon with fear. This drew the attention of everyone else standing on the docks, waiting for their chance to get into Odaiba.

In particular, this drew TK's mother out of the crowd. Somehow she knew, if there was a monster nearby, TK had to be right there. And she was right. She broke through the crowd just in time to see her younger son getting onto the giant sea animal with Joe.

"TK!" She cried, drawing their attention, running down the dock towards them.

"Uh-oh," the little boy intoned, looking back at her, and this drew the older boy's attention as well.

"TK, what is that thing? Get down from there!" his mother ordered him.

"Oh, it's okay, mom!" the little boy called back to her as they moved through the water, "By the way, this is a friend of mine, his name's Joe!"

"It's very nice to meet you, ma'am!" Joe called down to her, like he was taking her son away to fight monsters while riding on a giant sea mammal the likes of which their world had never seen before, "I was in TK's wood working class at summer camp! He nearly cut off one of my fingers, but that's a whole different story! I wont go into it right now!" Despite his words, he had a smile on his face.

"Please, stop! I don't understand!" She begged them, running along the dock until it came to its end.

"Don't worry!" her little boy said, "The saw slipped, but I missed him by a mile, he wasn't hurt!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" she yelled.

"So long, mom!" TK waved to her, "I'll be back with Matt and dad by dinner time!"

As they disappeared into the mist, the woman's eyes began to water as she held her hands before herself, "Oh, no," she said softly, suppressing sobs, "I've lost all of them, now."

+-9

"So, Izzy, if you're still listening to me, that means the digital barrier must have worked," those were the words Missus Izumi woke from her impromptu nap to. She sat up, pulling the soaked rag off her forehead, looking to her husband, son and finally Tentomon.

"Like a charm!" Izzy replied to the voice, even though Gennai couldn't hear him.

"The fog barrier surrounding the entire district is not a natural phenomenon," the old man went on to say, "It's Myotismon's doing."

"Well, duh!" Izzy intoned.

"Yeah, but what do we do about it?" Tentomon wondered aloud.

"You're probably wondering when I'm going to tell you what you can do about it," the scene on his computer suddenly switched to a top down map of the Odaiba area and there was a flashing red dot on it as it zoomed in, "The source of the fog is here. Attack its source and you should be able to bring down the barrier."

"That's the TV station!" Izzy exclaimed, then turned to his partner, "Let's get moving!"

"Aye, aye!" the bug saluted him. The boy closed his lap top and unplugged it from the wall, putting it in its travel pack and then making for the door.

"The safest thing for you guys to do is stay right here," he told his parents, "In here the digital barrier will protect you. I will be back as soon as I can," he said to them as he stood at the entrance of his room, "So long!"

"Wait!" his mother cried, stopping him immediately, "You've grown so much, Izzy, and it's obvious you can take care of yourself, but you will always be my little boy," tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes as she looked at her son's back, knowing he needed to go, "So, please, son, be careful."

Izzy was quivering, inside and out, at those words, unable to believe he was so lucky to have such a mother. She supported him in everything he did and didn't expect him to do more than he wanted to do. He had to fight back tears of his own as he turned around to face the two adults, a big smile on his face.

"I will, don't worry about me, mom," with that he left, before he actually started crying.

"I'll make sure he's safe!" Tentomon told them, rushing to catch up with his partner. They both missed it as the woman started crying, realizing that her baby had grown up, far more than even she knew.

+-9

In another part of the district, Tai and Agumon were sneaking about. They didn't want to have to fight until absolutely necessary. Luckily for them, most of the Bakemon and other minions were moving through the residential parts of Odaiba, gathering up all the people they could find.

They did happen on one lone ghost digimon, resting on a bike rack. And he looked tired.

'_Never a moments rest. It's always 'Seize him', or 'Grab her', or 'Go terrorize that old lady.' I'm one pooped spook,_' the Bakemon thought as he wiped sweat from his brow.

And not even a half second later, Tai tackled him to the ground, Agumon right behind him. The two of them began pounding on the digimon with fist and claw.

"Okay, start talking! Where are you taking everyone, you little creep?" the human boy demanded to know as he rained down punches on the poor, evil digimon. He accidentally elbowed Agumon in his attack, knocking against the poor guys hurt paw and getting him to howl in pain.

"Hey! Tai!" Sora's voice coming down from above stopped the beat down as the boy looked up to see Birdramon carrying the girl and a grey pixie in her talons.

"Sora! So, you're alright?" Behind him and Agumon, the poor Bakemon was getting up, "Hey, come back!" He ordered the ghost, but it just ran away, well, _floated_ away as fast as it could.

"The convention center!" the girl called down to the boy as Birdramon began to lower in the air, "Myotismon's holding them prisoner there!"

"Everyone in the whole district?" Tai asked.

Sora let go of her digimon's foot once they were low enough, landing in a crouch, "Yeah, including Mimi. He's got your parents, as well."

"Huh?" the wild haired boy's eyes widened as he looked at the red headed girl, "I've about had it with this guy," he hissed, a frown forming on his face, "Okay, Sora, you go hook up with Matt, he's in the warehouse by Aqua City."

She nodded, "I'm on my way!" She ran forward and jumped into the air again, latching onto Birdramon's claw.

"Let's go!" Tai said to his digimon as they ran in the opposite direction, intent on finding their friends and loved ones.

"Aqua City, Birdramon! Step on it!" Sora ordered. The flaming bird digimon gave a screech of affirmation and they flew in that direction.

Unnoticed by the children or their digimon, Phantomon became visible in his spot, overlooking the conversation.

"The plot thickens."

+-9

In the TV station, Matt's father was doing his best to try and connect to the outside world. He'd tried land lines, video feeds, cell phones, and, now, satellite broadcast. He was able to get the system to turn on, but nothing was connecting in the slightest.

"The satellite wont respond! Rats!" he growled angrily as he slammed both hands into the desk. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair as he tried to rally himself, "Come on, there's gotta be some way of communicating with the outside world."

Just outside the building, Izzy was approaching the main entrance, Tentomon right behind him the whole way.

"Whoa!" The bug exclaimed, stopping to look up at the building, with it's oddly spherical center mass between the two wings of the building, "I had no idea TV stations were so big. If I'm going to destroy it, I should Digivolve."

"Hold on for a minute," Izzy told him, "For all we know, there could still be people in there. We better check it out." The two of them continued inside, intent on making sure there was no one inside that would be hurt by the place's destruction.

+-9

At the convention center, Mimi was a little surprised to be one of the few kids not crying her eyes out. She supposed it had something to do with the face that she'd spent the last few months of her life in the Digiworld. As it was, frightening thought it was, she couldn't find it in her to cry just yet. So far, all the children were healthy, if not safe, and she was sure she just had to wait for the rest of their friends to show up and they'd swoop in, rescue her, and then save the day, with her and Lilymon's help.

Even as she was thinking this, Tai and Agumon were passing under a walkway, being careful not to be seen by the patrolling Bakemon.

'_Don't worry, Mimi, I'll get everyone out of there. I promised Kari!_' Tai thought as he watched the evil digimon patrolling the area.

+-9

"So, Wizardmon, is that your digimon's name?" Matt asked as he stood leaning against a pallet of construction supply. The little girl had been telling him about how they figured out she was the Ninth Digidestined while she tended to the sickly Lucy.

"No, no," Kari shook her head, "Mine is Gatomon. Wizardmon is like her best friend, but he's gone now," she thought about what Tai and Lucy had told her, about seeing Myotismon drop him into the bay after weakening him, "He got captured by the bad digimon. It must be awful, losing your best friend." She looked at Skymomon who was curled up on the bags of cement next to the pink haired girl, still holding on to her hand. "My mommy got captured by them, too," the girl said, turning away from the scene for a moment, then gasping, "But not my daddy! Do you think my daddy got away? He's alright, don't you think?" the girl clasped her hands in front of her chest, hoping to hear affirmation to her theory, "And mommy's gonna be alright, too, 'cause Tai's gonna rescue her, right?"

Matt just stared at the little girl for a moment before averting his gaze, "Uh, sure he will, Kari, but let's remember, Tai's just one kid and he's fighting hundreds." He didn't see it as Kari began to quiver, but he certainly noticed it when she began to cry.

"I want mommy to come back!" the poor little girl sobbed, covering her face with her hands so that they wouldn't see her tears.

"Nice work," Gabumon said sarcastically to his partner, "Have some compassion. Can't you see she's worried about her family? You're worried about yours, aren't you?"

Matt just hummed, thinking about his little brother, hoping he was doing okay, wherever he was.

Suddenly, Kari's sobs stopped and Matt turned to look and see what caused it. Lucy had one hand weakly grasping Kari's, the girl woken up by the eight year old's sobs.

"Hey," she rasped, "None of that, now, Kari," she smiled weakly, "Don't underestimate Tai. He'll beat them all up and come back to brag about it, don't you worry."

"Really," the little girl asked, sniffing, "You think he can?"

"No doubt, Matt knows it, too, he's just trying to think of what he'll have to do now, to one up your brother," she grinned weakly towards the blonde boy.

"Yeah," he nodded slowly, then grinned wider, "Definitely. Do you know what kind of work I'm gonna have to do to make myself look as good as your brother after he saves the day, this time? Last time, I had to take on a giant sea monster, all by myself until Gabumon helped me. Your big brother did the same, and more, earlier that very day."

Kari was beginning to smile again, wiping her eyes of the tears, "Yeah, he's cool, isn't he?"

"You bet," Lucy said, forcing herself to sit up, fighting off a wave of vertigo as she did, "I could use a little water."

Matt just grinned a little as he moved off to get the desired water. Dealing with Kari reminded him of his little brother again. He wasn't the best big brother out there, and he didn't always do things right, but he tried his best. If anyone told him that was wrong, they could eat it, cause he'd never stop trying.

He looked off to the distance, again thinking about where TK was. Hopefully, the little boy wouldn't be doing anything dangerous to get here. He couldn't bear it if the boy got hurt and he wasn't around to stop it.

+-9

At that very moment, TK was with Joe and Patamon, riding Ikkakumon through the bay. They were still making their way to Odaiba and were just about to pass under the bridge.

"We're almost there," Joe announced, "Once we get past the bridge, we'll be through the barrier."

"Right!" TK nodded.

They made it another twenty feet forward before Joe heard a threatening growl.

"Is your tummy rumbling, or did I hear something?" he asked TK, Looking up at the mist as he spoke, thinking the sound came from above.

"Like what?" TK asked.

"Wait!" He shushed the boy for a moment, "What's up there, by the bridge?"

Through the fog, the four of them could barely make out a large, serpentine body spiraling up the pillar of the bridge and two, blue glowing eyes. The mist parted suddenly, allowing them to see it in it's entirety. The kids gasped in fear.

"I knew this was too easy," Patamon said as he saw the creature, "That's Megaseadramon. The regular old Seadramon was bad enough, but compared to this fully Digivolved version, it was just an angry guppy."

Seadramon was big. Megaseadramon was massive. He had bright red scaled in place of Seadramon's blue, and a series of fins going down the length of his body to help him swim faster and with more control. He had green stripes going down his back, and a golden helmet on his head that had a crinkled, bladed horn sticking out of the top. Just like his lower leveled form, his mouth was full of sharp teeth, and the final new development was the locks of long green hair, visible from the back of his helmet.

Megaseadramon roared out the effort it took to crush the bridge as he did so. He snapped cables and broke asphalt until the whole bridge was basically cut in half, further separating Odaiba from the outside world.

Joe and TK covered their heads, hoping not to be hit by falling debris.

"Oh, great, we'll probably get blamed for this," Joe complained as he looked up at the giant sea dragon.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" Ikkakumon launched three missiles at the dragon, obscuring it in smoke.

"Bull's eye!" Joe exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air, "Right on the button!"

The smoke cleared a few seconds later showing that, not only was Megaseadramon okay, he was more than a little angry. He pointed his crinkled horn at the kids on the white furred digimon and called out the name of his attack.

"_Thunder Javelin!_" A river of blue electricity hit Ikkakumon, zapping him and causing him to rear back. This motion threw Joe and TK into the waters of the bay.

"TK! Joe!" Patamon cried, hovering in the air above the violently moving waters, "TK!"

A short distance away, TK surfaced, doing his best not to go back under, but the water was too deep, "Help me!" he cried, attracting his partner, "I can't swim so good, Patamon!"

The little digimon latched onto TK's hand, trying to keep him afloat, but it was no use. TK was small, but not small enough for Patamon to have the strength to lift through the air. The boy dropped beneath the surface of the water again.

Beneath the waves, TK was losing himself in the current, he didn't even know which way was up.

'_Matt, brother, I need you!_' he thought as he began to lose his breath under the water. Just when he thought it was all over, something or someone grabbed him around the chest and lifted him back to the surface. Before he could sink again, a large piece of wood was pushed over to him.

"Grab on!" Joe ordered.

"Joe?" The boy looked over to see the teen smiling tiredly at him.

"Just hang on tight you that," he gasped, "and you'll be alright," the older boy was barely keeping his head above the water, even as he spoke, "I wouldn't want your mom to worry about ya. You're just a kid, I-I'm responsible for ya." the teen's eyes closed then and he sank beneath the turbulent waters.

"Joe?" TK called out, "Joe!"

Beneath the waves, the blue haired teen wasn't able to see it as his Crest of Reliability glowed with the light of activation and Digivolution. His Digivice activated as well, the energy channeled through his Crest until the symbol floated through the waves and was absorbed by Ikkakumon.

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve to Zudomon!" Zudomon, like most of the fully evolved forms so far, was much lager than his Champion stage. All the white fur left his body, revealing grey skin with well defined muscles. He had light brown fur on his face, a similarly furred gauntlet on his left hand with three large claws and more fur around his feet. In his right hand was a massive war hammer and on his back was a gigantic turtle shell with several large fins going down it. From his mouth hung two white tusks and a jagged horn came out of the top of his head.

"Whoa! Who's that, Patamon?" TK asked.

"Don't worry," the flying digimon said with a smile, "He's one of ours. That's Zudomon, the fully Digivolved version of Ikkakumon. I was wondering when he was going to show up."

Zudomon's first act was to lift Joe and TK out of the water with his left paw, being careful of his claws. The teen boy's crest was still glowing brightly as he did and TK kneeled at his side as he sat up, coughing up a couple mouthfuls of water.

"Joe!" The boy dodged to the side then as the light from the crest shot out and sliced through the mists.

"It's cutting an opening in the fog bank!" Joe exclaimed.

All this light and evolution brought back Megaseadramon's attention, "_Thunder Javelin!_" It roared, sending another river of electricity at the kids.

"I don't think so," Zudomon said in his new, less growling voice. He moved his horn into the path of the attack, simply absorbing the electricity and not even feeling a tingle from it.

"Yippee!" TK grinned.

"That's my digimon!" Joe grinned, even though he still felt a little soggy.

"_Vulcan's Hammer!_" Zudomon roared as he slammed his hammer, arching with yellow electricity, into the sea dragon. That single blow was enough to knock the creature into unconsciousness, making it sink into the waters below.

The kids cheered their victory for a moment before TK sobered up, "Hey, we better get going before the fog bank closes again."

"You got a point," Joe nodded, then pointed towards the hole in the fog, "Engines ahead full!"

Zudomon followed the instructions, moving quickly through the water before the hole closed, just behind him.

+-9

In the TV station, Izzy and Tentomon were slowly searching each hallway and office for any sign of life. So far, thankfully, there had been nothing.

"Okay," the boy said to his partner, "Keep your eyes peeled. Now, if I were a fog barrier generator, where would I be?" Just as he was about to turn a corner he caught sight of a Bakemon out of the corner of his eye. He gasped and turned around, dodging out of sight, "Back up, we'll go the other way. The two of them ran back down the hallway a few steps, but then saw another Bakemon. This one hadn't turned yet, so couldn't see him, but it couldn't be more than a few seconds before he did and the two of the were either forced to fight or submit to capture.

Izzy and Tentomon were backed up to what they thought was a wall when suddenly a panel slid to the side and hands reached out and grabbed Izzy and Tentomon, pulling them into a dark room and closing it behind them.

Before they could scream, a man shushed them, placing his ear to the panel, listening to see if the ghost digimon had noticed they were there.

As the ghosts passed each other by, all he heard was comments about how bored they were.

"Who are you?" Izzy asked, looking at the blonde man wearing a badge that said he was an investigative reporter.

+-9

Despite how far they'd gone and how fast Zudomon could swim, TK and Joe had still not quite made it to land yet in Odaiba.

"I can't see anything in here," TK said, looking around at the fog that still surrounded them.

"I just hope we don't end up going in the totally wrong direction," Joe commented.

And it was as they were passing through the water, much calmer on this side of the barrier, when they heard a strange voice.

"Take me... to Gatomon," the voice begged, "Please!"

"Who's there?" Patamon asked from his perch on TK's head.

Out of the mists, barely floating on a long, was a digimon dressed like a magician.

"I'm Wizardmon," he breathed out, "Must find... Gatomon..." He looked up at the children before him, praying they would help him, "Important."

"Not so fast," Joe said with a frown on his face, "Aren't you one of Myotismon's henchmen?"

"He sure looks beat up pretty bad," TK said, looking at the tears and scratches in the digimon's clothing.

"Got to give... Gatomon... this," Wizardmon struggled to say, showing the two children the pink Crest he had.

"Look! He's got somebody's Crest!" The eight year old pointed out.

"Yes, it... belongs to... the Ninth Child," finally, he passed out, unable to maintain anymore with the wounds that he had.

"Wah! The Ninth Child?!" TK and Joe exclaimed at the exact same time.

+-9

Back in the half build warehouse, Matt was looking at his Digivice, checking the time. It was just turning over to nine thirty, exactly two hours since Tai had left.

"Tai should have been back by now," Matt said, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before going to look out the front entrance, "Where is he?"

Kari sighed sadly, and Lucy, who was looking marginally better than she did when she first stumbled into their hiding place, rubbed her back. She was no longer dripping with sweat, and Skymomon, who was flitting about the warehouse, was much happier that she was awake and with them.

"Don't worry," she said, "He'll be okay."

The little girl just sighed.

"Hey! Anybody there?" Sora's voice yelled into the warehouse, Birdramon visible through some of the missing side paneling.

Matt ran out to greet her, Gabumon right behind him, "Sora! What's up?" the boy asked.

"Matt! Thank goodness!" The girl exclaimed while Birdramon dropped Lilymon out of her claws, gently laying her on the sidewalk, "Myotismon's rounded up the whole district! He's holding everyone at the convention center!"

Kari, helping Lucy hobble out to see Sora, had a worried look cross her face at this.

"So, what do we do now?" Matt asked.

"I have a suggestion," an unwelcome voice came in, getting Matt and Sora to gasp in fear, looking up to see Phantomon, "You see, I never understood why the master wasted all this time, looking for the Ninth Child, when it would be so much easier just to destroy you all!" the evil digimon laughed as the ground shook, causing Lucy to grimace in fear, before a giant green creature popped out of the ground.

It looked like a dinosaur with two huge horns coming out of his back, colored black with red stripes.

"Say hello to Tuskmon," Phantomon introduced them, "and watch out. Avoiding hi razor sharp horns is no easy 'tusk'," he chuckled for a moment, "Sorry. And here's the second member of our tag team." He pointed to a green vortex above them.

Out of the vortex another digimon materialized. This one was a little smaller than Birdramon, was also green all over, looked like a big bug and had two giant scythes on the ends of its arms.

"Snimon. A deadly preying mantis digimon," Phantomon told them, " which is so appropriate, because you're all about to become his prey."

"Watch out!" Sora yelled.

"Gabumon!" Matt said, turning to his partner.

"Sky," Lucy looked at the flying monkey to her left.

"Yeah," the monkey nodded.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

Garurumon jumped at Tuskmon and Birdramon and SkyYetimon flew towards Snimon.

"Leave this to us!" Birdramon said confidently.

Kari could only watch helplessly as the fight started and it wasn't going there way.

"_Twin Sickles!_" Snimon hissed, sending a red X of energy at Birdramon that was quickly dodged, then it blocked a punch from SkyYetimon, slashing at her and sending her to the ground.

At the same time, below the sky-borne battle, Tuskmon sent a punch into Garurumon's jaw that sent the wolf digimon flying over the warehouse.

"Hey!" Matt cried, watching this happen, "You're going the wrong way!"

SkyYetimon leapt to her feet again and sent a kick at Tuskmon. He wasn't quick enough to block it, like Snimon, but he was tough enough not to care. The monster then grabbed the winged digimon's leg and slammed her into the ground.

Then Phantomon got into the game, too. He threw the weighted chain he carried with him at Matt, wrapping it around his neck, then reared back his weapon, "_Shadow Scythe!_" Matt barely dodged the deadly attack and Sora came up behind the grey wearing digimon, intending to hit him with a stick. He simply turned around and cut the stick in half, nearly hitting the girl as well.

Sora's Crest glowed in response to this and Birdramon evolved into Garudamon.

It sounded like a good idea at first, until you realized that it presented a bigger target for Snimon's attack. The X of energy hit Garudamon, slamming her into the warehouse.

Kari and Lucy had to watch all of this, unable to do anything but stand there and watch as all their friends were soundly beaten to a pulp.

"Kind of chokes you up, doesn't it?" Phantomon laughed as he pulled even harder on the chain around the blonde boy's throat, cutting off his oxygen supply.

"Stop it, now!" Kari yelled, "That's enough!" she didn't know it, but with Joe and TK, the Crest in Wizardmon's hand was beginning to glow with the light of activation.

Back with the fight, Lucy was looking at Kari fearfully, hoping she wasn't about to do what she thought she was going to do. Kari dashed that hope when she let go of the pink haired girl and walked forward.

"It' me you want," Kari told Phantomon, "I'm the Ninth Child. If you just stop hurting my friends, I'll come with you quietly, wherever you want."

"Kari, no!" Lucy tried to move forward and ended up on her knees, her strength not enough to keep her up anymore.

"What a refreshingly helpful attitude," Phantomon said, "It's a deal." He waved hi scythe. Snimon backed away from Garudamon and Tuskmon let go of SkyYetimon, turning to the side and digging back into the earth. Finally, the chain around Matt's throat let go and flew back up to Phantomon just as Garurumon was coming around from behind the warehouse.

"I'm ready," the little girl said, closing her eyes as a pink sphere of light that turned black encased her and started to lift her into the sky.

"Matt, stop her!" Sora cried.

The blonde boy tried, but even if he could have gotten a grip of the sphere, he would have slid off it uselessly, unable to find a hold on its smooth surface.

"Kari!" The young man yelled, "No, Kari! You don't know what you're doing! Kari!"

"Oh, no!" Sora quailed, "What are we going to do?"

"Save her," Lucy breathed, crawling on hands and knees out to the sidewalk, "We have to save her."

"But how?" Matt asked, gritting his teeth, "You're so sick you can hardly move, those digimon beat ours like it was nothing, and that one is still out cold. What can we do?"

"Don't," Lucy paused, taking a deep breath, "Don't make me hit you again. I already told you what we can do," the girl looked up at the last place they had seen the little girl go, "We save her."

Chapter Thirty Three: End.

Please Enjoy.


	34. Chapter 34 Wizardmon's Gift

Chapter Thirty Four: Wizardmon's Gift

Tai and Agumon were making slow progress through the convention center. The sheer number Bakemon patrolling the grounds was almost unbelievable. It would appear that Myotismon had really searched every dark corner of the Digiworld to find every single Bakemon that existed there to bring them here.

"What's that?" Agumon and Tai dodged behind a pillar to watch a familiar winged creep made his way into the center. The Bakemon didn't even look twice.

"Demidevimon!" The boy hissed as he watched the bat digimon through his mini scope.

The digimon in question had a permanent grin on his face as he flew through the halls of the convention center. He had great news. Lord Myotismon would surely reward him greatly for this little tidbit.

"Well," he heard the master's voice, "Gatomon, is this the Ninth Child?" he gestured to yet another kid that was stood before her. The other children in the room had given up crying a long time ago. Mimi stood somewhere towards the middle, staying hidden by being right in plain sight.

"Mm-mm," the cat shook her head in the negative.

"Myotismon!" Demidevimon called as he arrived, hovering above the cat.

"What is it?" He demanded, a growl in his voice, showing his impatience.

"You'll love this, boss," the winged digimon said, "I've got the Ninth Digidestined!"

"You did?!" the look of surprise on Myotismon's face was only matched by the looks on Mimi's and Gatomon's. Demidevimon might have complained about having no faith in his abilities, but Myotismon was... well, Myotismon, and the fact that _he_ didn't actually do anything. Instead, he chose to simply gloat in the fact that he'd gotten one over on her, a big one.

"What?" Mimi breathed, hoping it wasn't true, "How did he do it?"

Gatomon's ears drooped sadly, '_Oh, no! Not Kari!_' She didn't dare say her partner's name aloud. That could only bring her Digidestined trouble. Hopefully they'd just captured some other random kid. She actually had been searching the crowd for Kari since they first brought her here. As long as the girl was not in front of her, she was safe.

"You hear that?" Myotismon grinned cruelly as he looked down at Gatomon, "It's over!" he let her fierce glare roll off his back, not the least bit frightened by her impotent staring, "Well, I have no use for these little brats anymore."

"Right!" Demidevimon till couldn't wipe the victorious grin off hi face, "What should I do with them, oh Evil One?"

"Make them go to sleep," the vampire said, "I'll find a way to deal with them, later." He chuckled for a moment before it turned into full blown maniacal laughter. He grabbed Gatomon none too gently and lifted into the air as Demidevimon did his hypnotic stare against the children now, sending them all to sleep. "Come, Demidevimon, lead me to the Ninth Child."

"Yes, sir!" The bat digimon took the lead.

The more that the vampire digimon thought about it, the more he laughed.

And it was his evil laughter as he was over head that drew Tai's attention. They still weren't quite inside yet, but were almost there.

"Myotismon!" Tai growled under his breath.

"Where could he be going?" Agumon wondered.

Inside, among the sleeping children, Mimi was also out cold. But not for long. Her Crest of Sincerity began to glow beneath her pajama top, its power acting on its own to protect the girl it was made for.

The girl blinked her eyes open, sitting up drowsily. She looked around for a moment, confused as to why everyone was on the floor, but she quickly remembered exactly what had happened.

Tai had finally made it into the building now, and there was no more time for sneaking about. He and Agumon were running freely through the halls, looking for his parents or Mimi.

What they found was a wall of Bakemon. Almost literally, there were so many of the evil ghost digimon that there was only one way through them.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" the orange dinosaur reared his head back, "_Nova Blast!_" The fire ball exploded in the crowd of digimon setting them ablaze and then quickly deleting them as Tai watched.

"They didn't stand a ghost of a chance," he smiled at his own pun.

"Tai! You made it inside!" the voice of Mimi came from behind him.

"Mimi!" The boy turned around to find the light brown haired girl in her pajamas, "Where are the other?"

"They're all fast asleep," she told him, "Myotismon put them under some kind of spell since he found the Ninth Child!"

"Oh no," the light of horrible realization shined in his eyes, "That means he's got Kari!"

"Huh?" Mimi was confused, "Kari?"

"Let's go!" Tai said, "I'll explain on the way."

+-9

In the TV station, in a room closed off from the rest of the building, Izzy, Tentomon and Mister Ishida were waiting for an opening to do anything. So far, those creatures of Myotismon's were keeping a tight patrol of the hallways, leaving them trapped.

"Hey," Izzy said, drawing the man's attention, "there's Matt, Sora and Lucy!"

"What?" The older man almost barked, "Matt? What's he doing here?" He walked forward to look out of the large windows as well. What he saw did not make him feel any better. There was Matt and Sora, and the girl Lucy, whom he'd never met before, and they were all riding on, "Monsters!"

"Actually, sir, the technical name is Digimon," the man turned to regard Izzy as he spoke, "You see, they're not like the pretend monsters you've seen in those old movies, destroying a bunch of Japanese cities," the boy paused as he thought about what he had just said then shrugged, "Hey, well, maybe that's a bad example, but anyway, the digimon Matt's riding on is definitely on our side!"

"What do you mean 'our side'?" Ishida looked out the window for a moment before turning back to Izzy, more questions in mind, but that being a prominent one. If he recalled, the monsters in the city had been fighting on another. Did that mean that there were monsters that were trying to help the people of the city?

"Well, you see, there are good digimon and bad digimon," the boy explained it in the simplest terms possible, "The good digimon are our friends, just like Tentomon here!"

"I'm not just good," the insect said, "I'm exceptional!"

Ishida had to smile a little nervously at that, "I wouldn't dare doubt ya."

+-9

In the bay, Joe and TK were sitting on Zudomon's back, looking over Wizardmon. They were finally approaching land, after having gotten turned around a few times, but there were some pressing questions at hand.

"But, Joe," TK began, holding Patamon on his head, "why does Wizardmon have a Tag and a Crest?"

"He said it belonged to the Ninth Digidestined," the older boy said, "Think it could be true?" He looked to TK who looked back at him, the both of them wondering whether or not to believe the digimon that they thought was their enemy at one point.

As they were pondering this, the digimon in question began to stir. He moaned a little under his breath, still feeling the wounds of the day.

"You awake?" TK asked him.

"Huh?" the magician blinked his eyes open, "Who are you?"

"I'm TK," the little boy said simply, "Nice to meet you."

"Kari!" Wizardmon suddenly exclaimed, his eyes widening. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. "Where's Kari?"

"Kari?" the eight year old leaned back.

"Who's Kari?" Joe asked.

"You've got to give this Crest to Kari," the digimon held out the pink Crest before the two boys.

"You mean you want us to give that to Tai's little sister?" Joe asked, his eyebrows rising as he came to a realization, "But if we have to deliver that to his sister, Kari, then..." his eyes widened even further, "She's the Ninth Digidestined we've been looking for all along!"

"Jeeze," TK complained, "I'm always the last one to find out!"

"We have no time to waste," Wizardmon told them, "Gatomon and Kari need this Crest."

"Gatomon!" Joe gasped.

"But she's one of the bad digimon that works for Myotismon," The boy next to him said.

"Are you saying that Gatomon's one of the good guys?" the blue haired teen asked incredulously.

"Exactly," the wizard nodded.

+-9

With some difficulty, Izzy, Tentomon and Mister Ishida had made it out of the TV station to greet the approaching group.

"Matt, Sora, Lucy!" the boy genius called, "Over here! Hey, you guys!" He had a large grin on his face as Garudamon landed right before him and Ishida.

"Izzy!" Sora called down to him as Garudamon lowered her and Lilymon to the ground, "What are you doing here?" As she asked that question, SkyYetimon, with Lucy in her arms, and Garurumon, with Matt riding on his back, came over as well.

"Matt!" Ishida called.

"Dad!" the blonde boy called back, hopping down off of the wolf's back. He and Sora walked up to his dad and Izzy, SkyYetimon not letting Lucy out of her arms just yet.

"I told you to stay out of sight!" the man barked at his son.

The blonde boy looked away, "Sorry, dad."

And then Garurumon stepped forward, moving his large head between Sora and Matt to greet his partner's father, "Hello, Matt's dad," he ignored the way the man yelped in fear at seeing him that close, "It's good to see you again."

"What do you mean 'again'?" Ishida asked, calming down when he realized the beast wasn't chewing on him yet, "Who are you? Have we met?"

"You know me," Garurumon smiled, showing more teeth than most people were happy with, "I Digivolved from Gabumon."

"Gabumon? That's you?" Matt's dad couldn't believe his eyes. That little guy was definitely taking his vitamins.

"Hey!" Another familiar voice came, "Over here!"

The group turned to look and Sora smiled wider than ever, "Joe! TK!"

"Hey, Matt, daddy!" TK shouted happily as he and Joe ran forward to greet the group. Behind them were Zudomon and Wizardmon.

"TK!" Matt exclaimed, a smile on his face when he noticed his little brother.

"TK," the man breathed, seeing his son. After the divorce, he didn't get to see nearly as much of the young boy as he would have liked.

The eight year old grabbed onto his father's leg, burying his face in his thigh, "Dad!"

"What are you doing here?" his father asked almost softly.

He pulled away so he could look up at the man and said, "When I saw that stuff on Television, I just couldn't stay home anymore. Mom wanted to come, too, but we couldn't bring her."

"That's alright, son," Mister Ishida placed a hand gently on his son's head. He had a small, smile on his face as he looked down at his youngest.

"I missed you, daddy," the boy said, grasping his father again.

As this was going on, the magician digimon was walking towards Lilymon, still held in Garudamon's palm.

"It's Wizardmon!" Izzy exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked, ready to have Garurumon attack the pointy hatted digimon at a moments notice.

He ignored that question, examining the pixie digimon that was still colored in shades of gray, "Hm, she was attacked by Myotismon, wasn't she?"

"So what if she was?" Sora asked, a frown on her face.

Again, the magician ignored the childrens' questions. Instead he focused his power into his hands, making odd symbols with them. Finally, a ball of magical energy appeared between his two hands and he pushed it into the pixie.

The kids gasped as, from the point of contact outwards, Lilymon regained her normal complexion. Her eyes blinked open and she gasped for breath.

"Lilymon!" Sora exclaimed.

"What's this? Wizardmon?" her eyes widened as she sat up, "Hi-ya!" she hopped out of Garudamon's hand, ready to attack the magician.

"Wait!" TK cried, standing in front of Wizardmon with his arms spread, "Don't attack him! Wizardmon's a good digimon! He's got the Tag and Crest!"

"TK, he could be lying," the red head girl said.

"No, Sora, it's all true," Joe said, "Look!" he and TK turned to Wizardmon expectantly. The digimon complied with their silent request and he held out the Crest of Light. The Others gasped at the meaning of this.

Before more could be done, Wizardmon felt a tug on his cape. He turned around to come face to face with SkyYetimon. He blanched for a moment, surprised that the digimon had gotten that close, but when the winged yeti looked down, he did, too, to see Lucy laying in the digimon's arms, still looking worse for wear.

"Don't suppose your mojo works on more mundane sicknesses?" the girl asked. Her sweating had stopped before, but she was still pale and weak. She looked, and felt, like she hadn't slept in a week.

The digimon turned around to face her fully, the others watching, "I can try," he told her.

"Better than nothing," the pink haired girl said.

Wizardmon focused his gaze on her, making the same strange symbols with his hands. A green glow enveloped Lucy and she felt her strength returning. It stopped suddenly, about half way through the process, seeming to reach a glass ceiling. She felt better, like she could walk on her own, but she still looked sick as a dog when the glow faded.

"Thanks," Lucy told the digimon as she got to her own feet, only wobbling a little.

"Were you aware that you are not entirely human?" the magician asked low so the others wouldn't hear.

The girl jut waved away his attempt at secrecy, "Old news, pal."

"Yes, well," He turned around to face the others, Lucy going over to stand by Joe, "As I was saying before, this Crest belongs to Kari. We've got to help Gatomon. She was captured by Myotismon."

"Gatomon?" Sora asked.

"Wait, yeah!" Matt said, holding one fist in the palm of his hand, "I remember now, Kari was talking about how you were Gatomon's friend and Gatomon was her digimon!"

"Yes," The wizard nodded, "and now, where is Kari?" Matt sighed at that, averting his gaze to the ground, "Well?"

"He's got her," the boy said, "Myotismon has Kari."

"Gennai sent me an email a little while ago," Izzy interjected, slightly changing the subject, "If I recall correctly, he said the TV station is the center of Myotismon's fog barrier," he pointed up at the spherical part of the station.

"Isn't that were we saw Phantomon take Kari?" Lucy asked.

"Hey, look!" TK exclaimed, seeing a dark shape flying through the air.

"It's Myotismon!" Matt said.

"He's got Gatomon," Wizardmon pointed out.

Indeed, directly above them, flying directly towards the spherical part of the station. In one hand he held Gatomon and his eyes were looking directly at the children below him. He laughed, maniacally as usual, when he realized that, even with these fools gathered right near his base, there was nothing they could do to stop him now. He had the Ninth Child and her digimon, as soon as they were destroyed, that would be the end of this ridiculous fight.

"But he wont have her for long," Wizardmon promised.

"Come on," Matt said, "Let's head for the viewing platform!"

"Right!" his father agreed, "I'll show you the way!"

Before a single step could be taken, a pair of familiar digimon popped out of the earth, intending to stop the Digidestined from reaching their goal.

Snimon slammed one of his scythe arms into the ground, nearly catching Sora and Matt with the attack.

In response, Garurumon Digivolved again.

"Garurumon, Digivolve to WereGarurumon!" The werewolf digimon was a storm of punches, kicks and tackles, forcing Snimon and Tuskmon to open a path for the humans.

"Leave this battle to us," Garudamon said.

"We can handle these digi-clowns," Zudomon added his two cents.

"We'll get Kari," Matt nodded to the two then turned to the rest of the group, "Come on, everyone, let's go!" The ensemble agreed, all running into the building, that is, all except Lucy and Wizardmon.

"Lucy," SkyYetimon said softly, "You shouldn't be running," she picked the girl up, then turned to the other digimon, "Think you guys can handle this without me?"

In response to that, Zudomon punched Tuskmon in the head with his right fist, sending the green dinosaur digimon into the ground, hard, "I think we've got it handled."

With that, the yeti and her partner followed the others into the building, SkyYetimon having to duck. Lucy noticed Mister Ishida going back for Wizardmon, so focused her attention forward. They had to stop Myotismon, right now!

+-9

In the spherical viewing platform, a dark portal, made of a swarm of bats, opened in the ceiling, admitting Myotismon, Gatomon and Demidevimon into the building.

Kari, held at blade point by Phantomon, gasped when she saw her digimon in the vampire's grasp.

Myotismon looked at the eight year old girl that was supposed to be the Ninth Child and couldn't help but comment, "I've got you, my pretty, and your little cat, too!" He began his dark laughter again. His victory was assured.

+-9

Outside the station, the sound of rapid, heavy stomping could be heard from a block away. The source was Greymon. Tai and Mimi were riding on the digimon's shoulder as he ran as fast as he could through the streets.

They rounded a corner towards the entrance, they were shocked to see a fight going on.

"What's that?" Mimi asked.

"Hurry, Greymon!" Tai ordered, "They need your help!"

"On it!" the big, orange digimon said, stepping up the pace a little more to get there all the sooner.

+-9

Back in the viewing platform, Myotismon was looming over Kari, his hostage held out before him. The grin on his face was almost insanely Maniacal.

"Little girl," he growled menacingly, made more so by his grin, "why have you chosen to show yourself to me? Do you have any idea what's about to happen to you?"

"I've got a guess," Kari said, sounding more calm than she felt inside.

"Then why?" Myotismon asked in a softer tone now.

"Because you were hurting all those people," she said simply.

This answer seemed to knock the evil digimon off his game for a moment. Gatomon looked at her partner, her eyes holding shock at how compassionate the girl could be for being only eight years old.

"Someone had to stop you from hurting innocent people!" the girl said next, a little more steel in her tone as she glared at the monster before her.

"Hmm?" his eyes widened for a moment before he chuckled again, "My, what a thoughtful little girl you are," he told her. He didn't yet know that the other Digidestined, Lilymon, SkyYetimon, Wizardmon, Tentomon and Mister Ishida were making their way up the stairs. "Gatomon," he said, seeing the cat had turned away from the human, "why wont you look at the Ninth Child's face?"

"Because she's not the Ninth Child," the cat said simply, "Who is she? I've never seen her before in my life."

Kari felt her heart clench at those words. Why would Gatomon deny her? She could guess that he was trying to protect her, but why did it have to be so painful to hear the digimon say that?

"Is that right?" the evil digimon asked then snapped his fingers.

"Ow!" the girl shouted in pain.

"Kari! No!" Gatomon's facade shattered as she said the name of her partner, turning to see Demidevimon tugging the girl's hair painfully.

"Ow! My hair! Ah!" the little girl continued to cry until the bat digimon stopped pulling.

"Kari?" Myotismon quoted the cat digimon, "Interesting that you know her name when you've never met her before," Gatomon jut slumped in his grasp, sadness and regret filling her blue eyes as she looked at her partner. She couldn't even protect her. She was worthless.

+-9

"Hurry!" Mister Ishida said as they came to a landing, "It's up here!"

"Got it, Dad," Matt said, as he ran forward with the others, "Wait here!"

"Thanks for the help," Wizardmon said to the human man.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mister Ishida asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "Digimon heal fast." With that, the wizard ran up the stairs with the others.

They got there just in time to see Myotismon about to unleash an attack on Kari and Gatomon.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!" Once that was done, he focused his energy into an attack, "_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Flower Cannon!_" Lilymon yelled, right along with him, firing off her own special attack.

SkyYetimon would have joined in as well, but her attack was likely to hit Kari and Gatomon as well.

Myotismon saw the attacks approaching, took in a small breath, and breathed at them. The force of that breath knocked both attacks skyward, shattering a hole in the skylight above them.

"It's getting a little noisy in here," the vampire said as he used his power to lift, not only himself, but also Kari, Gatomon and a panicking Demidevimon into the air and through the hole that had just been blown open. Phantomon was right beside him, flying up under his own power.

"Not so fast!" Matt said, running to the window, "WereGarurumon!"

On the ground, Snimon and Tuskmon finally fell under the onslaught of the three Ultimate level digimon. The werewolf digimon looked up at Matt's call. He saw Myotismon floating through the air with a couple of his minions along with Kari and Gatomon. He got the point immediately and began to climb the station. When it came to the vertical climb, he dug his claws into the cement and didn't slow down a step.

"Sky," Lucy said to her digimon, "You can put me down now, I promise I'll stay with the others. You've gotta help fight."

SkyYetimon looked down at her partner for a moment before handing her to Joe, who panicked for a moment, not ready for Lucy to be dropped into his arms, "Take care of her," the winged digimon ordered him.

"You got it," the blue haired boy nodded resolutely.

By the time that was taken care of, WereGarurumon had made it to the roof top and was standing before an unimpressed Myotismon, his chuckles filling the air.

"I am really getting sick of that laugh," Sora grumbled. At the same time, down below, Garudamon had grabbed Zudomon and was carrying him through the air to the top of the building.

Kabuterimon flew out the top of the building and began his evolution to the next stage as well.

"Kabuterimon, Digivolve to Megakabuterimon!" The giant, rocket propelled beetle floated in the air with Garudamon surrounded Myotismon with Ultimate level digimon. And still, the vampire remained calm, like he could handle anything they had to give him.

"We need to get Kari!" Izzy shouted to his digimon, "Go, Megakabuterimon!"

The giant, red insect charged electric energy to his double ax shaped horn and shouted his attack as he flew, horn first, right at the evil digimon, "_Horn Buster!_"

Myotismon watched the approaching digimon without a care in the world, he held up one hand and gestured to the right. Megakabuterimon suddenly found himself changing course, heading right for WereGarurumon.

The werewolf digimon was about to dodge, for the most part, but he was knocked to the edge of the roof by the beetle's shoulder. He was able to latch on with his claws, but Myotismon chose that moment to attack him.

"_Crimson Lightning!_" He shouted as he lashed the werewolf's fingers, making him let go of the roof's edge.

"WereGarurumon!" Matt cried out in fear for his friend.

"Oh, that's got to hurt," the evil digimon quipped, looking as smug as ever. That look was wiped off his face though when he took an attack to the back. He was more angered than in pain, but he was _angered_ because he was in _pain_. He looked over his shoulder, a feral rumble in his throat, only to see Wizardmon. "What?!"

"Kari!" Wizardmon shouted, "Catch!" He threw the Crest and Tag to the little girl, who caught it rather easily.

"It's Wizardmon!" Gatomon exclaimed, a smile on her face for the sight of her friend. She'd thought he'd been deleted.

Myotismon was not happy, though. He got back to his feet, Wizardmon's surprise attack having knocked him to his knees, "So, you're still alive."

"That's right!" the wizard digimon said, "It will take more than the likes of you to destroy me."

"We will see!" he held out his hand, summoning a purple ball of glowing energy. The ball launched forward and slammed into Wizardmon. In return, Wizardmon slammed into the outer wall of the viewing platform.

Kari gasped and Gatomon exclaimed, "No, Wizardmon!"

"Now," the vampire spoke as he approached the two, "Give me that to me, you little brat!" he held his hand out to the girl as if he expected her to politely hand it to him.

Instead, a both girl and cat turned around, what he got was a pair of glares and a loud, "No!" from the eight year old.

"That wasn't a request," he held his hand out towards her, getting ready to summon up another ball of energy to hit her with.

"Wait!" Tai's voice came over the air from across the gap in the roofs of the TV station. Kari smiled, hearing her brother nearby.

At the same time, Lilymon gasped out, "Mimi!" as the girl walked up behind her in her pajamas.

"You just messed with the wrong guy's sister, Fang Face!" Tai yelled, Greymon right beside him. In his hand was Kari's Digivice, "Kari, here, catch!" He tossed the device like a pro pitcher. The little girl had to run for it, but she managed to catch the little silver device.

"Yeah!" She held up in her hands in victory.

That turned out to be a mistake. Demidevimon dive bombed her, snatching the device right out of her hands.

"Aw, man!" Lucy cried, "I call foul!"

"I got the Digivice," Demidevimon said to Myotismon, "You can thank me after you take over the world, boss," he flew away then, settling somewhere behind and above Tai, mocking him with his presence.

"That's nice work," the evil digimon commented then turned to glare at Tai and Greymon, "Go get them Phantomon!"

Phantomon flew down at Tai and Greymon with his scythe held at the ready, moaning frightfully at them.

"Huh?" Tai reared back for a moment, then glared at the ghost reaper digimon. His Crest and Digivice lit up.

"Greymon, Digivolve to Metalgreymon!" The much larger cyborg dino growled at Phantomon who suddenly stopped and back pedaled through the air.

"Time out!" Phantomon cried, backing away to float beside Myotismon again.

"Go get 'em, Metalgreymon!" Tai ordered, pointing at the two evil digimon across the gap.

"_Giga Blaster!_" the huge digimon was quick to comply, sending two shark shaped ballistic missiles at the two creeps across the way.

Myotismon just smiled maliciously as he held out his hand. The missiles stopped, inches before his hands, then disintegrated.

"What?" Tai yelped. Sure, they hadn't worked the last time he'd fought the creep with the cape, but he'd never just... dusted the missiles before!

Above him, Demidevimon was snickering evilly.

The other digimon decided to try their luck.

"_Horn Buster!_"

"_Vulcan's Hammer!_"

"_Wing Blade!_"

"_Flower Cannon!_"

The four attacks approached him and he outright cackled as he gave them the same treatment he had the Giga Blaster. Luckily for Megakabuterimon, he had fired off the alternate version of his Horn Buster that just sent a bolt of electricity at the vampire.

"He's strong," Matt said, clenching his fists.

"That's an understatement," Lucy said, watching the spectacle with barely contained horrified awe.

TK was the only one not staring at the fight. Instead, he was facing Patamon with a look of determination on his face. They nodded to one another, then the little guy flew over to SkyYetimon and whispered something to the larger digimon. She nodded to him and tapped Lucy on the shoulder.

"It's time for me to Digivolve," she said to the girl.

"Do it," the pink haired girl grinned at her partner.

Back on the roof top, Myotismon turned to face Kari and Gatomon again. The Digidestined had given him their best, and nothing had worked, he felt it prudent to use this moment of their fear to strike the girl and the traitor down.

"Are you all done? I'm bored!" He smirked, "It's time to finish you off!" Kari and Gatomon prepared themselves, the cat crouched in front of the girl, ready to fight with everything she had to protect her partner. "_Nightmare-_"

That was as far as he got when he was interrupted by the sound of two Digivolutions at once.

"Patamon, Digivolve to Angemon!"

Lucy's Crest glowed brightly and then the symbol of Faith flew through the air and was absorbed into SkyYetimon.

"SkyYetimon, Digivolve to Wildangemon!" The group got to watch this time as SkyYetimon shrank into the form of her Ultimate level.

The two angel types didn't give the evil digimon even a moment to think about it when he turned to face them. They just launched their attacks.

"_Hand of Fate!_" Angemon yelled in his echoing voice, sending the orange beam of light at Myotismon.

"_Wild Tempest!_" Wildangemon's spear lit up with green and blue fire as she twirled it before her. She took a step forward and lashed the spear at the vampire and the green-blue flames leapt into a spinning whirlwind that combined with the Hand of Fate energy halfway there.

Combined, the two attacks struck home, hitting the evil digimon that would be ruler of the world right in the chest.

Myotismon roared in pain as he fell to one knee, breathing hard and holding his chest in pain. The raw power of the attack was enough to completely delete Phantomon and he wasn't even in the direct path of the swirling energy.

"Have you had enough, or do you want some more?" Angemon barked at the vampire.

"Please say yes," Wildangemon said with a grin as she crouched down on the railing.

"Funny," the vampire growled, standing up, "I was about to say the same to you!" He held his hands before his chest, preparing his attack, "_Grizzly,_" he whirled around to face Kari and Gatomon, "_Wing!_"

"Kari!" Tai cried, the only one of the children watching able to voice his horror at seeing the deadly swarm of bats approach his sister. If those hit her, she was a goner!

But Myotismon had forgotten someone.

Just before the attack could tear Kari and Gatomon apart, Wizardmon dived in front of the attack, taking the damage so they didn't have to. They could only watch in terrified shock as their friend was hit and bit and scratched, thousands of times, over and over again.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the attack ended, and Wizardmon fell limply to the ground.

Myotismon glared down at the digimon and growled out, "Next time, don't get in my way!"

"Oh, no!" Gatomon cried, moving to his side.

Kari was on his other side, gently shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to respond to her, "Wizardmon! You'll be alright! Please, don't leave! Wizardmon!"

"Are you... alright, Gatomon?" the magician digimon spoke with a wheeze.

The cat's eyes were beginning to fill with tears as she spoke, "You save me," she bowed her head, "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Wizardmon asked.

"Sorry I got you involved in this," Gatomon told him, fighting back her tear as her friend lay there.

"Don't be sorry," he told her, "I don't have any regrets. If I hadn't met you, my life would have had no meaning," he smiled behind his high collar, "I'm glad that you and I were friends."

"Friends forever," the cat sniffed.

"Thank you, for everything, Gatomon," he said to her, turning his eyes skyward again.

"Wizardmon," Kari cried, "Are you okay? Please, answer."

Across the gap in the roof, the Digivice in Demidevimon's talon was glowing with a pure white light that began to burn the evil little digimon.

"Look!" Tai pointed out, "It' Kari's Digivice!"

"I can't hold on!" the bat digimon cried, letting it fall, right into Tai's hands.

"Kari!" He cried, preparing to through it again, "Here!" He threw the device again.

This time, as Kari caught it, she kept it clenched between her two hands.

Myotismon saw this, and panicked, "Not her! No!" He roared.

But it was too late. The light of Digivolution was very quickly channeled through the Crest of Light. The pink sun glyph floated over to Gatomon and was absorbed into her small body. She began to glow and grow.

"Gatomon, Digivolve to Angewomon!" Angewomon was tall and beautiful. She wore a white body suit, a helmet that hid her face from the bridge of her nose upwards, and a glove with two Wings on her left hand. She had blonde hair, fair skin and eight beautiful wings on her back. A purple sash was wrapped around her arms and arched through the air over her head. The right leg of the body suit was missing revealing her long leg for the world to see and there was a golden breast plate over her bosom. Wings were also a continuing theme. Aside from the wings on her back and on her glove, there was another pair of wings on her helmet, a the breast plate was shaped like wings, and the ends of the purple sash looked like wings.

The children all stared in awe as they saw what Kari's digimon had turned into.

"Gatomon's an angel?" Kari breathed looking up at her partner.

"Welcome to the club," Wildangemon said in a whisper, a grin on her face.

"Myotismon!" her voice, like Angemon and Wildangemon, had an echoing quality to it while her entire glowed with a pure light, "You have tried to destroy the Digidestined and attempted to conquer Earth. In doing so, you have ruined the lives of Digimon and humans alike. How can you justify yourself?"

"I don't have to explain myself to the likes you!" he yelled up at her, "It is my destiny to plunge this world into darkness and become king of the digital world! And no angel, or digimon, has the power to stop me!"

Angewomon just stared at the evil digimon from behind her faceplate. She did not glare, or sneer, or laugh. She just watched him. This digimon truly believed that he would take over the human world and the Digiworld soon after.

"Myotismon," Angemon began, "Don't you have any regrets for the things you have done?"

"Heh!" He smirked, not turning to face the angels behind him, "_Nightmare-_"

"He's about to," Wildangemon smirked.

"_Heaven's Charm!_" Angewomon shouted, holding her arms out to the side with her palms facing outwards to focus her energy then brought her arms together over her head. A golden halo appeared around her arms and lifted into the air above her. As it moved upwards it grew and grew until it was a gigantic swirling vortex of rainbow energy surrounded by the golden halo. Positive energy began to rain down from the vortex and the Digidestined digimon felt their power returning to them.

At the same time, Myotismon's began to leave him. It was almost as bad as being in the light of the sun.

"My power!" Megakabuterimon was in awe, "It's... It's growing!"

WereGarurumon made it back to the roof then, flipping up over the railing, "Now!" he growled.

"Everyone, give your power to Angewomon!" Garudamon said. They all nodded their acceptance of this.

"_Horn Buster!_"

"_Flower Cannon!_"

"_Vulcan's Hammer!_"

"_Wolf Claw!_"

"_Wing Blade!_"

"_Giga Blaster!_"

"_Wild Tempest!_"

"_Hand of Fate!_"

The combination of all those attacks being absorbed into the Heaven's Charm caused it to crackle with the raw power it now contained. It turned a purifying green in color as it swirled in the air above Angewomon.

"_Celestial Arrow!_" She shouted. She held her left hand forward, and the wings on her glove grew to resemble the arms of a Bow. She drew the energy down from the Heaven's Charm and focused all of it into her right hand. An arrow of pure, white energy appeared in her hand and she knocked it on her glove-bow. "Ha!" it flew through the air, straight and true.

It struck Myotismon right in his cold, black heart. The vampire arched his back in the pain, fighting against the power that was now coursing through him, but even he didn't have the raw strength to fight off all that positive energy at once.

In a swirling storm of black lightning and purifying light, the evil digimon was atomized, leaving only his red opera mask behind. It was down to that and the destruction all around Tokyo, and Odaiba in particular, that even marked that the vampire had ever existed.

"Myotismon," Kari began, awe on her young face, "is gone!"

"Kari!" Tai shouted, a wide, proud smile on his face.

All the other kids and Mister Ishida in the viewing platform shouted out their cheers for the end of this battle. Well, they did until the platform began to shake ominously.

"Let's get out of here before we're crushed!" Sora said. Megakabuterimon provided a mount for the whole group of children to ride as they were carted down to the ground.

The only digimon that stayed up there was Wildangemon. She waited until the spherical viewing platform began to fall to the ground, then jumped on it, riding it the whole way down.

"Yeehaw!" She shouted in adrenaline rush joy, making sure that the big, cement and steel ball didn't hit the kids even after they landed. When it did hit the ground, Wildangemon was standing on top of it, her spear over her shoulder and giving a victory sign with her left hand. "How's that for an entrance?"

"Too cool," Lucy said, clapping weakly from Joe's arms as her digimon turned back into her In Training form of Urimon.

The chocolate colored digimon hopped down off the Viewing platform and into the little girls arms, then looked up at Joe, "Thanks for taking care of her."

"You guys are the bomb!" Tai said as the kids all stood around their digimon as they sat there in their In Training stages, "I can't believe we beat Myotismon!" The only two that had maintained their rookie forms were Agumon and Gabumon. Well, Gatomon didn't go that far back either, but she was a Champion, so she didn't count.

"That wasn't so hard after all," Joe said.

"Yeah," Lucy said, standing on her own, next to him, "It was only slightly more than terrifying when he was just turning away everyone's attacks." She had kind of hoped that with the defeat of Myotismon that she'd start feeling better. No such luck, she was still feeling weak and tired. She almost thought it was a miracle that Urimon had been able to Digivolve.

"Now, maybe our world will go back to normal," Matt said next.

"Hey, you two, what's wrong?" Sora asked, looking at TK and Kari as they stared at the sky.

"Look up there," TK told them.

"What is it?" his brother asked.

Kari pointed to the sky and said, "The fog, it's getting thicker!"

Chapter Thirty Four: End

Please Enjoy.


	35. Chapter 35 Prophecy

Chapter Thirty Five: Prophecy

"Aw, give me a break!" Tai grumbled as he kicked the left over mask of Myotismon. It spun for a littled bit, bouncing along the ground at the foot of the TV tower.

"That lousy fog barrier is still up," Matt complained, his hands in his pockets.

"So beating Myotismon didn't solve anything," Mimi sighed.

"Yeah," Lucy said, leaning against fallen viewing platform, "and there goes my hope that this sickness was caused by that jerk."

"Hang on!" Izzy said as he pulled his computer off his back. The others gathered around to see what he had, hopefully some good news for once. "We've got mail from Gennai," the boy said as it booted up quickly.

"Wonderful news, my friends! I may have found the way to defeat him, once and for all!" Gennai's little chibi representation on Izzy's computer was jumping up and down in excitement, then the image switched to more of that ancient digital code that could be found in the Digiworld, "Although this looks like a gram cracker, it's actually an ancient text, which I've translated!" He paused to take a deep breath then spoke the words on the stone, even as the Japanese characters were written along the bottom of the screen, "The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead digimon king, and when the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead king shall reveal himself in his true form, as the beast. Then angels will shoot arrows of Hope and Light into the loved ones of those they have been sent to protect and a miracle will happen. Please, always recycle," he stopped and his little figure was dancing again, "That last part seems weird, but good luck!" Gennai's image faded away leaving only the translated prophecy.

"Well, that was about as clear as mud," Sora snarked, "Can you make heads or tails of it?"

"Uh, Well..." Izzy began, but hummed to himself curiously as he trailed off.

While that was going on, Kari turned to her big brother, "Listen, Tai, maybe we should try and find mom and dad."

"You're right," the boy nodded.

"I wouldn't mind checking out my place, either," Joe added.

Mimi spoke up next, "And I'd like to change out of my pajamas, or at least get a matching robe."

"I think I'll just tag along," Lucy said, stumbling forward behind the others. Sora was quick to give her a hand, making sure she didn't fall on her face, "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"No problem," the older girl said with a friendly smile, though frowning when she touched the girls arm. Even through her gloves she could feel the heat of her fever, "Whoa, Lucy, you shouldn't even be out of bed!"

"Not a lot of choice," the pink haired girl replied.

"Yeah, I guess you got me there, but from now on, I want you to just rest in the back of the van," Sora ordered.

"I think I can agree to that," Lucy nodded.

Soon enough, the kids had piled into the Van that Mister Ishida drove and made it over towards Izzy's apartment building. Mimi had gone over to her own place, Joe following Izzy inside his apartment building as it turned out they lived in the same building.

Izzy came back down rather quickly with his parents. They only lived on the second floor, so it was a quick journey to get them and come back out.

"Alright," Mister Izumi said, "Can someone explain what's going on?" He noticed the group of children that had their own monsters following them around.

"It's a pretty long story, but I'll try," Ishida began.

Before he could start, Mimi came running over, wearing her normal uniform of a dark pink dress and her pale pink cowboy hat.

"Hey, everybody, wait for me!" she called, Tanemon right beside her, "Sorry I'm late," she looked around then, "Aren't we missing a couple people?"

"We're waiting for Joe, he's still upstairs, and Lucy is burning up, so she's just resting in the van," Sora nodded over towards the vehicle.

"Yo," Lucy waved weakly.

+-9

Up stairs, in the Kido apartment, Joe had stepped into a messy room, books and other things all strewn across the floor. It wasn't like this the last time he was here.

"Mom? Dad?" he called, looking around, "There's no sign of anyone."

"Do you think they've been captured with all the rest?" Bukamon asked, "That would be sad."

Neither one of them noticed the closet door behind them sliding open slowly. A hand came out of the darkness and latched onto the teen's shoulder.

Joe yelped out a scream. Bukamon turned around, ready for a fight, until he saw that it was a human hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Don't do that!" the little digimon barked.

Another young man, though this one between nineteen and twenty, stepped out of the closet. The blue hair and glasses marked him as definitely being related to Joe.

"Relax," the young man said, "it's only your brother, who's totally freaked."

"Jim!" the blue haired teen said, slightly annoyed as he whirled around to face him, "What are you doing hiding in there?"

"Well, I'm not playing hide and seek," his older brother said, hoping down from one of the large shelves, "Those creepy things tore the place apart."

"Yeah, they are creepy, aren't they?" Bukamon said with a smile.

"Frankly, I wouldn't talk if I were you," Jim told the digimon.

"Don't worry about this little guy, Jim," Joe said a smile, "He's a friend of mine. And I've got more good news! Myotismon's been destroyed!"

"Just who is Myotismon? For once in your life, Joe, you actually sound like you know what you're talking about."

"Mm-hm!" the young Kido son nodded.

Jim sighed as he scratched his head, "I guess there's a first time for everything."

+-9

"Find out what's happening at the convention center," Ishida ordered as the whole group gathered around the front of Izzy's building, then placed a hand on TK's shoulder, "We'll try to find a way through the fog barrier, right, TK?"

The little boy nodded.

It was a little cramped in the van, but thankfully Joe and Bukamon rode on his scooter with Jim so there was a little more space for everyone.

When they got to the convention center, most of the kids except for Lucy, TK and Matt piled out of the car.

"Tai," the sickly girl began.

"What's up, Lucy?" he asked.

"Could you find my parents in there for me? Make sure they're okay?" she pleaded.

The older boy just grinned reassuringly, "No problem! You just rest, like Sora said."

The boy, followed by everyone that had piled out of the van, ran towards the convention center, ready to get their families back.

At another entrance, Joe and his brother arrived.

"So, tell me Joe," Jim began, "Are you still planning on being a doctor?"

"Joe is smart! He can be a doctor!" Bukamon said from the duffel bag.

"There's a lot more to it than that," the young man said.

"Joe can be whatever he wants!" the digimon said with conviction.

"It's what my dad wants me to be," Joe said sadly, bowing his head slightly.

"Poor dad," Jim said, "He doesn't know."

"No," the younger brother sighed.

"Are you saying Joe's not smart enough for something?" Bukamon leapt to his partner's defense, "Listen, I don't care if you are his brother, you can't-"

"Hey, calm down," Jim laughed, "I'm not saying he's not smart enough. I'm just saying it'll be kind of hard for him to be a doctor when he passes out at the sight of blood."

"Yep," Bukamon smiled now, "that's my pal, Joe!"

"Look," the older brother said then, "I think your friends are coming. Let's talk about this later, Joe."

+-9

Once inside the building, the children began looking for any evil digimon that might be left. They'd rather have that problem taken care of before they found their parents so that they didn't have to worry about them attacking their loved ones.

"There's one of 'em now!" Agumon pointed out, seeing one of the Bakemon that were still patrolling the area, "Let's go!" The yellow dinosaur jumped forward with Gatomon to hi right.

Behind them, the digimon of the other children there Digivolved. Tanemon, Yokomon, Motimon and Bukamon became Palmon, Biyomon, Tentomon and Gomamon.

"_Lightning Paw!_" Gatomon shouted the name of her attack as she leapt at the Bakemon before them. It dodged by going down the stairs behind it, leading into a whole pack of other ghost digimon.

"_Pepper Breath!_" Agumon shouted before he spit a fireball at another one, pushing it back just as Gatomon's attack landed on another.

"_Super Shocker!_"

"_Marching Fishes!_"

"_Poison Ivy!_"

"_Spiral Twister!_"

The combined attacks of all six digimon was enough to completely destroy the pack of ghost digimon.

"Excellent!" Tai said as he hopped down the stairs, "Great work, you guys!" he said to the digimon, he was followed by the others who had parents in the convention center.

Just beyond the area where they found the Bakemon, they found all the adults in the building. They were all laid out uniformly, shoulder to shoulder, in rows. They were completely unresponsive, no matter what the children tried.

"Mom, wake up," Tai said, shaking his mother's shoulder.

"Daddy?" Mimi tried, "What's happened to them?"

"Mister Suzumebachi? Can you hear me?" Kari tried waking Lucy's adoptive father.

"They're all so totally still," Joe commented lowly to his brother, "Are they..." he trailed off.

"No," Jim replied holding his fingers to one of their neck, "their pulses are normal."

"That's good," the blue haired teen sighed thankfully.

"Joe, listen," the older brother said, "It's your life, you've got to live it your way, not dad's way."

"I guess," the boy sighed.

His brother turned around to look him in the eye, "After I become a doctor, I'm going to South America, Africa, some place I can really be of help," Jim smiled, "Dad's already told me he doesn't approve."

"I can imagine," Joe said, thinking about what his father would say to that.

"Anyway, right now, we've got to see to all these people," his brother said as he got to his feet.

"What can we do?" the younger brother asked.

"If only we could get help from the outside," Jim said after a moment of thought.

+-9

"It's hopeless," Mister Ishida grumped, "There's no way to get through this fog." He, Matt, TK and their digimon had taken an inflatable rubber raft out to the edge of the barrier, trying to get through it again.

TK had hoped that either his or Matt's Crest might have cut a hole through it like Joe's did, but no such luck.

Patamon, hovering in the air beside the boat, decided to try calling out for help, "Hello, anybody! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"No, like this!" Gabumon told the flying digimon as he cupped his hands around his mouth, "If you save us, we'll give you anything you want, including candy!"

There was still no response from the other side of the fog wall.

"Nice try," TK sighed, hanging his head, "This just isn't working. Maybe we should go back to shore."

+-9

"This is all our fault, Gatomon," Kari said as she sat next to Lucy's mother and father.

"Mm-hm," the cat agreed. If it wasn't for them, surely Myotismon would have stayed in the digital world and never come here to do this to the people of Odaiba.

"Don't worry," Sora said from next to her mother, "This spell, or whatever it is, will just wear off and everyone will just wake up again."

The little girl and her cat digimon looked to the older girl for a moment before smiling and nodding. They could at least hope for that.

"Yeah, isn't that right, mom?" Sora turned to her still slumbering mother.

+-9

Almost as soon as TK, Matt and their father made it back to shore, they were attacked by the Gizamon. The van was nearby, luckily, and Lucy was witness to the goings on.

"Urimon, go help them," Lucy ordered.

"Urimon, Digivolve to Skymomon!" The flying monkey slid open the door to the fan and joined her attacks with the other two digimon.

"_Blue Blaster!_"

"_Boom Bubble!_"

"_Whirlwind Fist!_"

They were able to knock some of the amphibious digimon back, but the pack was just to large to keep at bay this way for long.

"We were better off lost in the fog!" Mister Ishida commented.

"Let's go!" TK said next.

"If you insist!" Gabumon said as he and Patamon retreated up the stairs to the van.

The people and digimon piled into Ishida's van, just in time. The evil little water digimon began to pile on, rocking the van back and forth until it finally flipped over onto it's side.

"Oh," Lucy moaned, "That wasn't fun."

Unseen by the people in the vehicle, the tree nearby was being used as a roost for Myotismon's bats. The evil digimon may be gone, but they were still around. One of them blinked awake, then launched into the air, followed by all the other bats in the tree. They almost looked like they were numbered in the hundreds, far too many to be in that one, little tree. Their high pitched calls and the flapping of their wings were deafening if you were outside to hear it.

Once in the air, they immediately dive bombed the digimon attacking the van.

Inside the vehicle, the people and digimon had squinted their eyes shut in pain or fear, not wanting to see it as they were destroyed by a bunch of fuzzy frogs. After a few seconds, they noticed that nothing was happening and opened their eyes. Were the Van had been darkened by the evil digimon sitting on the windows before, now it was brightened. The digimon were nowhere to be found.

"C'mon, guys," Mister Ishida said as Matt opened his door and he, Gabumon and his father climbed out.

"Hey," Matt said, "What happened to the digimon?"

"Over there!" TK pointed after sliding open the passenger door for him and Lucy and their digimon to get out as well.

In the sky, traveling towards what was left of the TV station, the bats that had destroyed the Gizamon were flying along in one big cloud.

"Whoa," Lucy breathed, "Where's the party?"

Mister Ishida saw the cloud and a thought came to him, "'The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats.'"

+-9

What no one in the van could see from where they were was the bats congregating around Myotismon's red opera mask. It almost looked like they were being absorbed by the mask.

Above them, Demidevimon was watching with an evil grin on his little face, " Now things start to get interesting!" he laughed maniacally.

+-9

In another part of the convention center, away form the others, an without even his digimon nearby, Izzy stood before his parents who had sad looks on their faces.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

"Yes, son," Mister Izumi said, then sighed, "When you went off and left us there, in hiding, your mother and I thought we might never see you again. So we talked and decided that the time had come to tell you that we're not your real parents, Izzy."

The boy bowed his head slightly, "I already know," his parents closed their eyes and bowed their heads sadly, "I heard you talking once. I pretended, to myself, I hadn't heard anything. Then I made believe I misunderstood. Then I tried to wipe it from my mind and just act like everything was the same as before," Tentomon, who was listening from around the corner, went unnoticed, "But it wasn't and I started drifting away from you, a little more each day."

"That's why you buried yourself in that computer," his adoptive dad realized.

"That's right," he looked up to meet his parents' gazes.

"It's not surprising," the man said, "It's who you are. You see, in so many ways, you're the living image of your real father," the man smiled softly at the boy.

"What was my real father like?" Izzy asked, desperate to know.

"He was a fine man and a brilliant mathematician," Mister Izumi told him, a sad look reappearing on his face as he though of what the world lost, so many years ago, "In fact, he was a lecturer at the university. He and I were distant cousins, I was his only living relative, and your mother had no family of her own, so, when it happened..." he trailed off, closing his eyes as he remembered, "Late one night, there was a terrible car accident. Neither of them survived."

His adoptive mother picked up the story from there, "We had lost a little boy of our own, you see, just before. So, when we were asked to take care of you, it seemed, I don't know, like some kind of sign. We said yes."

"So, you made me your son?" Izzy finished.

"We always planned to tell you the truth, we were just waiting for you to grow up a little more," his father said, then sighed again, "But now, you seem to have found out on your own. We waited too long. I'm sorry, son."

"No," the boy said firmly, "No, Dad, there's no need for you to be sorry. It couldn't have been easy for you to tell me all this. And I'm," he paused, not quite knowing how to deal with this situation, "well, I'm glad you did."

His parents finally looked at him with something other than sadness, hopeful smiles adorning their faces, "We just want you to know, we love you, Izzy."

"You see, as far as we're concerned, you are our real son. Nothing can ever change that," Missus Izumi said softly.

The confession of that finally proved too much for Izzy to take. Tears began to gather in his eyes, regret filling him that he'd ever thought their love for him might have been forced.

"Mom!" He dived into her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he buried his face in her stomach to hide his tears. His parents just smiled and wrapped him in a loving hug, from both of them.

"Gee," Tentomon sniffed from around the corner as he watched the scene, big tears gathering in his compound eyes, "It's times like this I wish I had a digi-mommy!"

+-9

In the main part of the convention center, one of the adults suddenly sat up. It was Sora's mother, Missus Takenouchi. Her eyes were open, but blank, just staring at nothing.

"Sora!" Biyomon said suddenly, "Your mom's awake!"

Sora turned around with a gasp to see her mother holding her arms out before her stiffly.

"Lord Myotismon," the woman said in monotone, "Lord and master."

"Mom, what is it? Are you alright?" Sora asked as she knelt by her mother, "Mom!" The woman didn't react in the slightest as she lay back down, her eyes still open. All around the room, other peoples' eyes opened as well.

+-9

A shadow rose up from the ground in front of the TV station. At the very top, where a creature's head would be, it wore the red opera mask. It wobbled and writhed as it grew to be taller than a Greymon.

"Hey there, master," Demidevimon said with a grin, "Good to see you back on your feet."

"More energy!" the evil shadow of what was once Myotismon demanded, "I need more!"

"You got it!" the bat digimon said.

More bats were summoned from the abyss. They spread through out the district, absorbing the power of all the digimon they could find, then coming back and pouring themselves into the top of the shadow form of Myotismon.

"It wont be long now," Demidevimon said, "The boss is gonna be bigger and badder than ever!"

+-9

"Myotismon, Lord and Master," the group of people in the convention center all cried out at once. They repeated the same phrase over and over, staring up at the ceiling, but not reacting to anything.

"Dad, snap out of it!" Tai exclaimed.

"What does it mean?" Mimi asked as she looked at her father and mother doing the same as everyone else.

"What's going on?" Mister Ishida asked. In his arms was Lucy. The girl had argued that she was good enough to walk on her own, but Skymomon wouldn't let her take a single step until she felt better. Lucy wanted to see her parents though, so Ishida offered to carry her.

"Something very odd," Jim said as he stood up to see the man, his two sons and the girl in his arms, "Physically, they're still asleep, it's like they're all having the same dream."

"Hey, wait a minute," Izzy said as he walked up with his parents in tow, "Do you guys remember that prophecy?"

"Yeah," Matt said, "It fits. It says the fallen people will invoke the name of the undead king," as he spoke, Sora and Tai joined the group, leaving their parents alone for the moment.

"Well, the first part about the bats came true," Gabumon told them.

"Huh?" Joe intoned.

"When was that?" Tai asked.

"What did the third part of the prophecy say?" Sora inquired next.

Izzy pulled his lap top off his back and opened it up, bringing up the email from Gennai again, "Before the 'Recycle' part it was, 'When the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead king will reveal himself in his true form.'"

"Terrific," Tai monotoned, "But what's the hour of the beast?"

"Six, six, six," Mister Ishida said as he walked over, "Six minutes and six seconds past six o'clock."

"Sounds like triple six is our unlucky number," the wild haired boy said after thinking about it.

"What time is it now?" Lucy asked.

"Let me check," Tai said, he looked at his Digivice just in tie to see that it had only turned six PM a second ago, "It's almost time!"

"Quick! Get in the van!" Ishida ordered, handing Lucy to Jim.

Tai, Matt and Mister Ishida piled into the van with their digimon. They took off towards the TV station where they could still see thousands and thousands of bats swarming.

Tai looked at his device again, "We're never gonna make it!" he cried, seeing it was already six minutes past six o'clock.

Exactly six seconds later, he TV station crumbled to dust as the biggest digimon that the kids had ever seen stood up from the rubble.

The van skid to a halt and everyone exited the vehicle, just looking at the monstrosity with horrified awe.

"That's Myotismon?" Tai asked.

"He's been taking steroids," Matt quipped.

"It's his true form, the beast," Mister Ishida said.

Myotismon's new look was... impressive. He stood well over most of the buildings in the district. He had four wings coming out of his back, and thick blonde hair that went down to the middle of his back. From their down his body was covered in black fur, and from the waist up it was red armor plating. His arms were long and lanky, like Devimon's and his feet were capped off by three red claws on each. A long tail was coming out of the base of his spine and he had four eye like marking on his abdomen.

"Hey, come on!" Agumon said to Gabumon while the humans stared at the monster with horror. The other digimon nodded and they ran forward to go on the offensive.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

The monster turned around to face them with a roar, and the force of the air churning was nearly enough to knock the two Champion digimon off their feet.

"Where are my manners?" Demidevimon said, flying around the giant monster, "Allow me to introduce you to the new and improved VenomMyotismon!"

"VenomMyotismon?" Tai questioned.

"That's right!" the little bat digimon said with a grin that showed off his fangs, "The king of the undead! He's the 'Un' and you're the 'Dead'!"

"More energy!" The giant's voice echoed around the district, "I'm hungry!"

"No problem, boss," Demidevimon told him, "There's all those people just layin' there, waitin' for ya! Remember to start your day with a good breakfast!"

"I'll begin with a little snack!" He began breathing inwards. The result was a gale force wind that began to draw the evil little bat digimon towards his mouth.

"Hey, what are you doing? Waaaaah!" The evil little digimon that had been an annoying thorn in the Digidetined's sides had finally been destroyed, and by his own master, no less. Then, he began to move forward.

"He's going towards everyone at the convention center!" Ishida realized.

"Pump it up, you guys!" Tai called out.

"Digivolve!" Matt ordered.

"You heard them, let's do it!" Garurumon said.

"Yeah!" Greymon roared.

"Greymon, Digivolve to Metalgreymon!"

"Garurumon, Digivolve to WereGarurumon!"

"Shall we flip a coin to see who goes first?" WereGarurumon asked as he stood next to his much, _much_ larger compatriot.

"Allow me," Metalgreymon said, the panels on his chest opening up, "_Giga Blaster!_"

WereGarurumon ran along the ground for a little ways, then jumped into the air with a growl of effort. He landed on one of the huge shark missiles. Even those were large than his entire body by several times. He rode them all the way until they were about a hundred feet out from the monster.

He jumped off then, while the missiles kept going, exploding against the monster's stomach.

"_Wolf Claw!_" he roared, slamming the attack at Venommyotismon. It didn't even scratch his armor.

"It didn't even phase him," Matt said, a tinge of fear creeping in to his voice.

Weregarurumon, still clinging to the giant monster's body, quickly ran up his front and jumped up to his face, "_Garuru Kick!_" he lashed his leg at Venommyotismon's face. A blue line of energy slashed the monster across his forehead, but instead of blood, tentacles spilled out, grabbing onto to Weregarurumon.

Luckily, Metalgreymon was there to save the day.

"_Mega Claw!_" he roared, sending his left claw forward on the cable and severing the tentacles. Then, once his compatriot had landed on his shoulder, he tried his main attack up close, "_Giga Blaster!_"

The two missiles hit and this time the kids could tell they at least did something. Venommyotismon was knocked to the ground, and sending up a huge cloud of dust from the building that he landed on.

"Did it work?" Tai wondered, hope in his tone.

"More energy!" Venommyotismon roared, lifting his huge, lanky arms out of the cloud, "I must feed!" He sat up next, showing that he still wasn't even injured by the attacks.

"Does that answer your question?" Matt said to his friend.

"Matt, Tai!" Weregarurumon called as he dropped down from Metalgreymon, "Go to the convention center and warn the others!" the cyborg digimon landed behind him, "Don't worry us, we'll take care of this clown!"

"Alright, but just watch yourself," the blonde boy told his partner.

"Let's go!" Mister Ishida said next, the three of them running for the car.

They sped back to the center while the two digimon started trying to impede his progress again. It wasn't going too well.

+-9

"Clear everyone out! Now!" Tai shouted as soon as they were back in the main room with the others.

Joe and Mimi gasped as the turned to look at him.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked. She was now sitting on the floor, being tended to by Jim. He couldn't do anything for the other people, but what he did know from his studies to be a doctor allowed him to help her out.

"C'mon, it's easier to just show you," he gestured for them to follow.

The girl looked up at Jim, asking with her eyes if she could go see, "Sure, I guess so, your fever has been steadily dropping for a little bit now, so you should be okay to go."

Once outside, the entire group was horrified to see the super sized monster heading right for them, with two little specks trying to stop it. It took them a moment to realize that those specks were Matt and Tai's digimon in their Ultimate forms.

"I don't know how long they hold him off," Tai told the others.

"Even if we had time, we couldn't move all these people," Joe's brother said.

"You don't understand," Gatomon said, turning to face the other digimon, "We can never outrun him, we have to destroy him."

"You can count on me," Patamon told her.

"Yeah, us too!" Palmon and Biyomon said together.

"Me, three!" Tentomon added.

"Hey, make that four," Gomamon added next.

"And I'm in this, too, don't forget," Skymomon chipped in.

"Uh-uh," Gatomon shook her head, "Patamon's the only digimon I need to come with me, the rest of you stay here."

"Huh?" Gomamon intoned, wondering why she didn't want them to fight.

"Nothing personal," she told them, "I just want all of you to save up your strength. If my plan doesn't work, you'll all be needed."

"What about me?" Skymomon said, "I can turn into an angel, just like you two. Why do you want me to stay behind?"

"Because," Gatomon turned to the monkey, "If worse comes to worse, you'll be needed to make that extra divot in his armor so that everyone can focus their attacks on one point."

"That makes sense," Skymomon nodded.

"Yeah, I think we should go with Gatomon's idea," Biyomon said, "She knows these bad digimon better than anyone."

"Excuse me," Mimi said, stepping into the conversation now, "I don't mean to be a downer or anything, but how can any of us hope to stand up against that guy? He's taller than most buildings!"

"I've got a plan, like I said," Gatomon told the human, "Come on, Patamon, let's fly!"

"Mm-hm!" The tan creature followed along.

"We're right behind you, Gatomon!" Tai said as he, Matt, TK and Kari followed after the two digimon.

"Let's go, son!" Mister Izumi said, "We're in this together, right?"

"Right!" Izzy agreed with a grin.

Once all of the people were in his van, Mister Ishida started heading back towards the monster while Gatomon and Patamon Digivolved.

Once they were Angemon and Angewomon, they flew over head, towards the battle.

"Angels?" Missus Izumi gasped, "Wh-what's going on?"

"It's kind of complicated," Tentomon told the woman.

"They Digivolved, mom," Izzy explained, bringing up the profiles of Angemon and Angewomon on his computer for her to look at, "Angemon is the evolved form of Patamon and Angewomon is the same for Gatomon, see? Trust me on this."

"It's nice to have outside interests, but I hope your schoolwork hasn't suffered," his father said.

"Dad, this is the fate of the world we're talking about, the survival of the human race. Don't worry, I can take a make up test for anything I miss," the tech genius said a little snarkily.

In the battle between Weregarurumon, Metalgreymon and Venommyotismon, the monster was just now firing his first real attack at the digimon opposing him. He didn't name the attack, but from the four eye marks on his lower abdomen a single beam of tie-dye rainbow energy shot out. Weregarurumon and Metalgreymon dodged, and it was a good thing that they did so. The beams that missed all streaked into the air and dissipated eventually, but one hit a building and turned it into nothing more than deleted data.

"Sure wish I brought the camcorder," Mister Ishida said once they saw what was going on.

"Uh oh," Metalgreymon intoned when Venommyotismon stepped up to him. He probably wasn't looking to play patty cake. One humongous fist slammed into him, sending him flying towards the ground.

"Looks like trouble!" Weregarurumon growled. He positioned himself to catch the giant cyborg dinosaur. But he was moving forward with so much momentum that they both began to slide backward. Suddenly, they glowed with yellow light and their forms shrank back to their Rookie levels.

They rolled along the road for another few dozen yards, then finally came to a stop.

"What happened to 'em?" Tai asked in a slight panic.

"He must have drained them of their energy," Izzy theorized.

"Good bye, small fry!" the monster roared as it prepared to stomp on the two digimon lying on the ground.

"_Celestial Arrow!_"

"_Hand of Fate!_"

The two angelic attacks slammed into Venommyotismon, knocking him backwards a few steps and preventing him from crushing Gabumon and Agumon.

"This wont be easy," the male digimon said.

"No one ever said it would be, Angemon," Angewomon told him. Below them, the evil monster just laughed maniacally.

At the same time, the van pulled up beside Gabumon and Agumon, and Tai and Matt were the first two out of the vehicle.

"I shall enjoy devouring you!" the giant demon roared, "Angel food is one of my favorites!"

Back on the ground, Gabumon and Agumon were barely regaining consciousness.

"I'm so sorry, Matt, we tried," the fur wearing digimon said.

"He's just too much for us," the yellow dinosaur added while everyone else piled out of the car as well.

Izzy held his computer at the read and plugged in his Digivice as he pulled up the profile on Myotismon's new form.

"Why is that monster so much bigger than the other digimon?" His father asked him.

"Search me," the boy said as he typed on his keyboard, "Hm, I thought he was fully evolved, but he found some way of evolving into an even higher level. Some kind of Mega Ultimate level."

"Hey, that's not fair," Matt said, "That's like changing the rules in the middle of a game!"

Even as they spoke, the angel digimon continued their attacks. They exploded against his body armor, but had no more effect than Metalgreymon or Weregarurumon did previously.

"Stop it, you're tickling me!" the giant demon laughed, "Now, it's my turn!"

"You can do it, Angemon!" TK shouted up to his partner.

"Go, Angewomon!" Kari shouted next, making sure her partner had her support.

Ishida was looking up at the angel digimon when a thought came to him.

He turned to face Izzy, a question already forming on his tongue, "Wait a minute! The Prophecy, that's it! Quick, Izzy, what did say in there about angels?"

The boy opened up the email again, showing the picture of the ancient writings and their translation.

"I begin to grow bored with you!" Venommyotismon roared as more purifying attacks bounced off his hide uselessly.

"What does the prophecy say?" Missus Izumi asked.

"Angels will shoot arrows of Hope and Light at the loved ones of those they have been sent to protect and a miracle will happen," Izzy quoted. Even as he spoke the battle between the two angels and the giant demon raged on. Using their own abilities, they were able to block the beams of destruction Venommyotismon fired at them. It pushed them backwards through the air, but they were fine. The giant Ferris wheel didn't fair so well, going the way of deletion.

"Okay," Izzy went on to say, "If Angemon and Angewomon are the angels in the prophecy..."

"So, then who are the ones they've been sent to protect?" his father asked.

"That must mean TK and Kari," the tech genius supposed as he looked to the two eight year olds who were shouting encouragement to their partners, "The angels will shoot arrows at their loved ones!"

"It's simple," Tentomon interjected, "Allow me to explain. Say I'm kind of like a guardian angel. Who's guardian angel am I? Yours. And who do you love the most?"

"I was getting to that," the boy scolded slightly, "My mom and dad, obviously," he answered the bugs question.

"Exactly," the bug digimon nodded, "But TK and Kari don't only have moms and dads, they have something else, too."

"They have brothers!" Mister Izumi realized.

"In a word, Bingo!" Tentomon said.

The breakdown of the prophecy had attracted everyone's attention. TK and Kari didn't look like they could think of having their digimon hurt their older brothers, and boys looked like they were considering it, if it would stop the giant creep that wanted to eat their parents and everyone else.

"Why would you want them shooting arrows at your loved ones?" Izzy wondered, "Sounds dangerous to me."

"They're angels, Izzy," Missus Izumi said, "Maybe they're like Cupid. When he shot people, they were arrows of love."

"Mom, isn't that a little corny?" the boy drawled.

"It may be corny, but I buy it," Tentomon said as he hovered in the air before his partner, then turned to face Matt, Tai, and the others, "All we have to do is get Angemon and Angewomon to hit you guys with their arrows of love!"

"Hey, let's not be so hasty!" the tech genius said quickly.

"What do you think?" Matt asked Tai.

"It's worth a shot," the other boy said with a shrug, "Kari!"

"TK!" the blonde called to his little brother.

"You sure you wanna?" the eight year old boy asked.

"Let's see these arrows of Hope and Light!" Tai said.

"You have got to get them to shoot at us!" Matt added.

"They'll only do it if you tell them to," the wild haired boy told them. TK and Kari looked up at their siblings with wide eyes, wondering if they were hearing this right.

"You really want them to shoot you?" Kari was stunned.

"What if you get, like, dead, or something?" TK asked, worry clear in his voice.

"Never happen," his brother assured him, "Right?" he turned to Tai.

"Right," Tai nodded.

"Okay," Kari finally nodded, holding out her Crest, TK doing the same, "Angewomon!"

"Angemon, listen up!" the boy called to his digimon, "I know this maybe sounds crazy, but shoot Matt and Tai with your arrows," beams of light shined out of the Crests of Hope and Light and materialized as a bow and arrow in each of the digimons' hands.

"You too, Angewomon," the little girl nodded. The angels flew over to look at the small group of people gathered together for this battle.

"He's right," Angemon said, looking to the female angel.

"Sounds crazy," she agreed, "but..." They took aim at the two older brothers.

"Matt, you sure about this?" Gabumon asked.

"What if that prophecy's all wrong?" Agumon added.

"You guys want a miracle to happen or not?" Tai asked as he and Matt turned around to face their partners.

"Yeah, Miracle's require a little Faith," the blonde added. Tai snickered.

"Lucy would probably kick you in the shin for making a pun of her Crest, you know?" he said.

"Probably, as long as she has the chance to, that means the world is still safe, so let's do this," Matt grabbed a hold of the other boys hand, "I'll just hold onto you. To make sure you don't run away."

"Ha, yeah, well, I'll do the same for you," Tai clenched his hand too. Their crests began to glow.

"One miracle!" Angemon started, preparing to throw his arrow as he had no bow.

"Coming up!" Angewomon knocked her arrow and pulled it far back on the string.

At once they both fired their weapons. Angemon's Arrow of Hope hit Matt and Angewomon's arrow of Light hit Tai. Both boys took the white, glowing arrows to the heart. In seconds, their entire bodies glowed blue and orange, respectively.

The light receded through their bodies and into their hands, from their it transferred into their Digivices. The normal light of evolution that came from the devices was a small beam that streaked into the sky.

What resulted from the arrows striking them was a river of blue and orange energy that struck Gabumon and Agumon directly, forcing them into their fourth stage of Digivolution.

Chapter Thirty Five: End.

Please Enjoy.


	36. Chapter 36 The Battle For Earth

Chapter Thirty Six: The Battle For Earth

The arrows of Light and Hope struck Tai and Matt through the heart. Instead of making them dead, or something similar, like everyone had feared, it just turned them into silhouettes of orange and blue light, respectively. It spread out from their hearts until it covered their entire bodies. Then it began to recede. All that energy flowed from their entire bodies into the hand they were holding their Digivices. The energy was absorbed by the device and it, too, began to glow.

And then it exploded outwards. It was like the truest sense of a controlled explosion.

The orange energy crashed into Agumon, flooding him with so much power that he began to automatically jump through his stages of evolution. First was Greymon, of course. Next was Metalgreymon, but even that form wasn't enough to contain all the energy he was receiving, so he evolved further still.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!" Greymon was huge, standing forty feet tall. Metalgreymon was even more so, standing at nearly a hundred. Wargreymon was... not. Still large by comparison against a human, the digimon was now only around nine to ten feet tall. He'd also all but left behind his dinosaur appearance in exchange for something vastly more humanoid. He'd given up nearly everything from his old forms, keeping only the orange scales and the metal head piece with three horns. His eyes had turned green again, and red locks of hair were still coming out of the back of his helmet. His body was covered in armor, too, a chrome chest plate carved to be a tight fit showed off his improved physique, thick muscles covering every inch of his torso. On his lower arms were two odd weapons. They almost looked like they were supposed to be shields and swords at the same time. They were large, had three chromed blade coming out of the ends of each and were capable of blocking his entire upper body from damage if held just right. Finally, on his back a shield with the Crest of Courage appeared, then split in half to act as wings.

Something similar happened to Gabumon. The pure power from Matt's Digivice hit the fur wearing digimon and forced evolution and evolution upon him. Gabumon turned into Garurumon. Garurumon remained that way for all of about three seconds before he was forced into the form of Weregarurumon. Weregarurumon had enough time to howl before he was forced to evolve to his final level.

"Gabumon, Warp Digivolve to Metalgarurumon!" Agumon changed size so many times in his Warp Digivolution that it was almost dizzying. Gabumon... changed size once. Garurumon was larger than a big horse, his proportions stayed the same as WereGarurumon, he just reared up on his hind legs to stand like a man. In his Mega form, Metalgarurumon went back to all fours, but changed his appearance. From the tip of his tail to the end of his snout, he was covered in, you guessed it, metal plating. Spikes and weapons were everywhere on his form, from concealed rockets and gatling guns to the end of his tail which had turned into blade to slash at enemies, Metalgarurumon practically was a weapon himself. The only part of Metalgarurumon that wasn't intentionally meant to be a weapon were the metallic wings coming out of his shoulders.

Izzy had his computer out already from studying the prophecy, so it was easy to pull up the data for the two new digimon right away, "He's Wargreymon. It says his attack is called Terra Force, gathering the energy around him and focusing it in the palm of his hand," he paused to pull up a screen of the other newly evolved digimon, "Metalgarurumon has his Metal Wolf Claw attack shoots a powerful cold blast at his enemies, then blows them to pieces! Mega digimon," the boy said, "They Digivolved into their Mega forms."

"That's great, because we'll need them to beat Venommyotismon," Tentomon said as he stood next to the two boys who's digimon just became more powerful than they ever thought they would be.

"Yeah," Matt said, looking up at the two digimon that were so much smaller than Venommyotismon, but were supposed to be on the same level, "For sure."

"Good luck," the bug digimon added, "I'll wait here."

Wargreymon flew into the air, a growl on his lips. As he approached the giant demon, his body began to glow with an orange light that spread out from him until it was a storm of power that slammed into the monster they were fighting head first. Venommyotismon roared in pain as he was forced backwards and away from the conventions center.

The hit was so powerful, in actuality, that the monster was forced back to his starting point, and then beyond it. It was almost comical when the kids saw the spherical viewing platform roll out of the way of the fall of the evil monster.

The dust cloud that had kicked up from that attack was enough to completely obscure the enemy.

"Way to go, Wargreymon!" Izzy exclaimed excitedly, "You creamed him! I think..."

The group of people had piled back into Ishida's van and were moving to follow Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon to continue the fight.

"Look!" Tai pointed, "There they go! Get after 'im, Wargeymon!"

"Put his lights out!" Kari cheered.

The dust cleared, and, just like last time, Venommyotismon was still kickin'. He stood to his feet ready to fight again, but it just made him a better target for the next attack to his.

"_Ice Wolf Claw!_" Missile launchers all over Metalgarurumon's body and fired them at the monstrosity. One by one, each rocket hit and caused an explosion, not of fire, but of ice, freezing the demon from top to bottom.

"Frozen!" TK said.

"Solid!" Matt added.

The two good digimon landed before the giant ice sculpture that their enemy had become, looking up at their handiwork. But the moment wouldn't last long.

The ice began to crack, even as the digimons' eyes widened, and then shattered as Venommyotismon flexed every muscle in his enormous body.

"It didn't work," the wolf digimon growled.

"Your miserable attempts to destroy me have failed!" he glared down at the two miniscule digimon that would assume they had the power to destroy him, "Now, you will pay!" he laughed evilly. His eyes began to glow with the light of another attack that he quickly began fire at them.

Luckily, they were small, fast, and hard to hit. The buildings weren't so lucky. They were falling to pieces all around the fight. And that was unfortunate for the people who were driving over to the battle in the van. They were already having to dodge debris that had ripped up the wall, but the moment buildings started to fall towards them, the only thing that Mister Ishida could do to keep them from being squished was to swerve out of the way.

Unfortunately, vans like his were not made to take sharp turns. It began to tip to one side, then simply rolled for a good twenty yards, the screams of the people inside becoming a little jumbled in the rolling. Once it stopped moving, they all piled out, Mister Ishida helping Mister Izumi who appeared to have hurt his leg in the crash.

"Get clear of the van!" Matt's father ordered. Even as he spoke, the battle was kicking up more dust and the group began to unwittingly separate.

+-9

Back at the convention center, Sora, Lucy, Mimi and Joe were watching the tides of the battle shift back and forth. It would seem that they'd be winning one moment then losing the next, then back to winning. It just went on and on like that.

Their digimon stood before them, watching the battle as well, feeling more helpless than ever.

As they watched the battle, Joe's older brother came up to him, "Jim," he greeted, "how's dad, is there any improvement yet?"

"No, still exactly the same," the older Kido brother said. The kids sighed sadly.

"Alright, I'm tired of fooling around," Gomamon said with a frown on his face, "We have to defeat Myotismon once and for all!"

"Our parents always protected us," Mimi said with a frown forming on her face, "Now, it's time we came through for them."

"Mimi, if we do it together, we can beat him!" Palmon said with conviction.

"You think so?" the girl asked with her hands clasped together.

"Mm-hm!" the plant digimon nodded encouragingly.

"I got a right hook for that jerk, too!" Skymomon said, slapping her right fist into her left palm while her tail angrily lashed the ground.

"I'm ready when you are, partner," Lucy held out her Digivice.

"I'll try," Biyomon said, nuzzling Sora's leg.

"You will," the girl asked.

"Yeah, mm-hm!" the pink bird nodded.

Sora looked off into the distance and nodded herself, "Okay."

"But we already tried," Joe said, hanging his shoulders.

"So we'll keep on trying, Joe!" Gomamon insisted, "Because digimon never give up!" He hopped up on the boy, crawling around so that he was resting on his shoulders, getting chuckles from those watching, "Like they always say, all for 'mon and 'mon for all!"

Joe laughed a little himself, then pumped his fists in the air, "You're right, we can do it! Let's get 'im, guys!" He ran forward with a battle scream.

Sora shook her head for a moment before she approached Jim, "You'll have to forgive Joe, he get's a little hyperactive," with that said, the girl ran forward with her own battle cry on her lips.

"Yeah, I still ain't running for a while," Lucy said, looking to her digimon, "Can I beg a ride from my most beautiful, awesome partner?"

Skymomon blushed visibly beneath her fur at the praise, "Aw, Lucy, stop. You don't even need to ask," the monkey quickly Digivolved to her larger form, and picked up her partner, "Let's get this party started!" SkyYetimon took to the air and flew forward at speed.

Mimi smiled at her friends then turned to Joe's older brother, "Please, take care of our parents, Jim!" Then she ran forward with Palmon right beside her.

Jim watched the kids leave him behind to fight a giant monster that was destroying the place they all lived in and could only smile a small smile of encouragement, "Good luck, you guys."

+-9

At the sight of the battle, the fight raged on. It was in a stalemate currently, Wargreymon, Metalgarurumon, Angemon and Angewomon were too small and fast to be hit, and Venommyotismon was so tough that their attacks couldn't put him down for long.

And that was unfortunate for the people already on the scene because they were losing each other in the cloud of dust that was being kicked up by the epic rumble that was happening around them.

"Kari!" Tai yelled out, having lost his little sister somewhere in the rubble and praying that she was okay.

Wargreymon charged the demon again, but he wasn't able to get far before he was blocked from the attack by one of his giant arms.

"Where are you, Tai?" Kari yelled out, trying to find her brother.

Angewomon didn't escape the onslaught completely uninjured though. She dodged the beams of destruction that were coming from the eye marks on the lower abdomen of the monster, but a flying piece of debris smashed into her, sending her to the ground.

"Tai!" Matt yelled as he stood up on a pile of rubble that gave him a semi clear view of the area, "TK!"

Metalgarurumon tried to draw Venommyotismon's attention by flying right in front of his face, hopefully opening him up for another attack from one of the other digimon. He dodged the destructive eye beams then turned around and fired off more of his freezing missiles. But it did not good.

TK was watching all of this with wide eyes and a slack jaw. He saw his digimon approaching from the monster's right side and cheered him on, "Get him, Angemon!"

The angel digimon flew forward, twirling his staff, but it was for naught when he was smacked out of the air by one of Venommyotismon's humongous hands. He was slammed into a wall near the only three adults in Odaiba that weren't under the influence of the sleep spell.

"Mom, dad!" Izzy shouted, running towards them, now that the dust had settled enough to see them, "I'm coming!" Tentomon was right behind him.

"Look, Izzy," Tentomon said, drawing the boy's attention, "all the others have Digivolved, too! There's Ikkakumon and Togemon and Birdramon!" He paused then, "But where's-"

"SkyYetimon," Izzy pointed over to the flying digimon with four green wings that had just landed next to his parent to drop off Lucy.

Then she was obscured in the light of Digivolution again as the Crest of Faith was absorbed into her body. Izzy watched as the yeti sank into her fully evolved form, Wildangemon, then flew into the battle with the rest of the digimon.

"I'm going in!" Tentomon said, moving forward through the air, Digivolving into Kabuterimon.

Seeing the back up that had come to help defeat this monstrosity, Wargreymon stood up and said, "Everyone! Attack at the same time!"

Without a single argument, the digimon all began to launch their attacked at the middle of the four eye marks on Venommyotismon's lower torso.

"_Needle Spray!_"

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_"

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Wild Tempest!_"

"_Hand Of Fate!_"

"_Celestial Arrow!_"

"_Metal Wolf Claw!_"

All eight of the attacks converged at that one point on the demon digimon's body, creating a soft spot that was glowing with the massive amounts of energy that was converging.

Wargreymon flew up into the air and held his weapons together over his head, "And now to wind things up!" He began to spin, faster and faster until he was only an orange and yellow dervish, then he spun faster still, making a huge vortex with him at the head, "_Mega Claw!_" As he roared out this attack, he slammed, spinning claws first, right into the center of the glowing weak spot on their larger than average enemy.

At first, the only thing to happen was Venommyotismon being pushed back by the power of the attack, growls of the pain the constant drilling was causing him the only signs that it was working. Then, suddenly, the growls, turned into an angry roar as Wargreymon broke skin and quickly drilled through the monster. The roar grew more intense when the much smaller mega digimon actually came out on the other side, having torn a hole from front to back.

As everyone watched, Venommyotismon collapsed to one knee, breathing exceptionally hard as Wargreymon came out of his spin.

"That did it," Mister Ishida was sure.

"Or not," Lucy said from right near by when the monster just roared louder than ever, getting back to his feet and clenching his enormous hands into fists.

"You think you can defeat me?!" he laughed, his entire form twitching from the pain, "You've only awakened the Beast within!" As he spoke, the hole that had been ripped into his lower stomach widened and another creature with stubby little arms showed its face. It was also wearing a red opera mask, had dark skin and blue eyes. It seemed to be held back by red teeth keeping it in the monster's body.

All of the children reared back from the sight, frightened by this development.

"What is that thing?!" Tai yelped.

"Bad news," Matt replied.

Just as they finished saying this, the monster peeking out from Venommyotismon's stomach breathed a blast of black at the ground. It didn't directly hit any of the digimon, but they still fell to the ground, as if they'd taken a direct hit from the monster.

"Wargreymon!" the wild haired boy gasped when the Mega level digimon hit the ground right before him.

"Now, I'll devour all you so called Digidestined!" Venommyotismon roared out, "You've stood in my way for the last time!"

'_It can't end like this!_' Mimi thought, looking up at the twin beasts with fear.

'_I've let everyone down again,_' Matt grit his teeth as he frowned at the monsters.

'_I wish I could have done more,_' Sora thought next, her own thoughts on how she should have been able to help more than she had.

'_It's impossible he survived that!_' Izzy marveled in his horror.

'_Maybe we should just surrender,_' Joe would never say it aloud, but he secretly wished that was an option, just to stop everyone from being hurt.

'_This is scarier than the movies!_' TK thought as watched, his mouth hanging open. Kari could only stare at the results of what seemed to be the terrible results of their most powerful attack.

Lucy was staring at the monster with the same fear as the others, but it slowly changed into a frown as, despite the weakness of her body, she stepped forward with her fists clenched, '_No way! It's not ending like this! I have to save that annoying moron,_' an image of the hooded man in the dark place flashed in her mind, '_And I'm not letting this jerk stand in my way!_' Her Crest began to glow with a mote of light, but she hadn't noticed yet.

Unknowingly, her thoughts closely mirrored Tai's, '_I'll never give up!_'

Then, all the Crests, not just Lucy's and Tai's, began to shine brightly.

"Huh?" the wild haired boy said as he pulled it out of his shirt, "My Crest," he looked around and noticed the colored lights coming out all of the other crests, too. "Everybody!" he called, "Look at your Crests! They're glowing!"

By some odd happenstance of fate, all nine of the Digidestined were positioned in a circle around Venommyotismon, all of their Crests glowing at once. Then, one by one, a beam of light shot out of each of the crests, wrapping around the monster, binding him in place. His arms, his legs, his torso, even his neck was bound, holding him prone for an attack, all the children watching this with renewed hope.

The Beast was struggling against it all, trying to get the body he was trapped in to move and destroy those pesky Digidestined, "Curse you, Digidestined! Curse you and your lousy Crests! Let go!" the Beast ordered them.

"Look at that," Tai breathed, "Mega freaky," then his eyes widened as he had an epiphany, "I wonder if that monster represents Myotismon's actual form," he turned to his digimon who had gotten back to his feet in time to hear this revelation, "Wargreymon!"

"Pass me the ball!" the humanoid digimon called out to Metalgarurumon.

The machine wolf moved over to the last piece of the TV station, the spherical viewing platform, and launched it into the air, towards the now flying Wargreymon.

"Nice pass," Sora said softly.

Then, the Digidestined all spoke as one, "_Shoot!_"

Wargreymon pulled one leg back, then kicked the 'ball' as hard as he could, sending it slamming into the face of the Beast. But neither he nor Metalgarurumon were willing to leave it at that.

"_Terra Force!_" Wargreymon summoned what appeared to be a miniature sun into his head, then held it over his head as it expanded until it was bigger than his own body. Once he'd charged it with enough power, he through it at the monster.

"_Metal Wolf Claw!_" Metalgarurumon pulled his head back, gathering energy to his mouth before breathing out a literal storm of freezing energy, right at the Beast.

The two attacks streaked through the air, smashing into the sphere, then the beast itself, creating a sphere of light that all but completely obscured the monster from view.

The children watched with awe as the humongous form of one of their most persistent and powerful enemies began to distort and warp, twisting and writhing as he roared in the anger and pain of his defeat. After a few seconds of this, the monster began to break apart and disintegrate into nothing more than fragments of corrupted data.

There was no putting a cap on the cheers that broke through the children.

Especially not for Lucy when she felt her strength rapidly returning. Looks like her sickness was brought on by the monster after all. She'd have to ask Gennai about that as soon as she got back to the Digiworld. But for now, they'd won!"

+-9

Back at the convention center, all of the adults began waking up, almost all at once. Most of them were confused as to what was happening.

In particular were Mimi's parents who were looking around in bemusement until Mister Tachikawa noticed Joe's brother.

"Hey, what happened, Jim?" he asked.

"It must be Joe and the others!" Jim grinned widely, "They won!"

+-9

Back on the remains of the battle field, while mists began to disperse, the digimon de-Digivolved. Most of them went back to their Rookie phase from the massive amounts of energy they had used just to fight that monster, but Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon went back to In Training

"We did it, Tai!" Koromon shouted happily as he bounced over to his partner, "We did it! Yay!" He hopped into the boys arms and Tai began to do an odd little happy dance, holding the happily laughing Koromon over his head.

While that was happening, Matt had leaned down to meet Tsunomon, rubbing him on his furry head, "Good job, Tsunomon," he grinned at his digimon.

"Look," Mimi said, pointing out a pale colored puppy with large blue eyes and a gold collar, "A stray digimon."

"Don't you recognize me?" The puppy digimon said, "I was Gatomon, what do I have to do, cough up a fur ball?"

"That's Salamon," Kari said, walking over to her partner, "the Rookie form of Gatomon. Isn't she cute? Much more cuddly than her Ultimate form of Angewomon," some of the other children had gathered around to look at the Rookie they had never seen before, "I guess she's back to her Rookie form because she used up a lot of energy during that fight. But what are we gonna do? They don't allow pets in my apartment."

"Drag," Joe breathed, adjusting his glasses.

"Skymomon!" Lucy said, holding her digimon, "I am so proud of you! You rock!" She was nuzzling the digimon closely.

"Aw," the digimon said, holding on to her partner, "I'm not that great."

"Sure you are!" the pink haired girl said, "I wouldn't want any other digimon, on either world, to be my partner instead of you!" she hugged the monkey close to her again, making sure to be careful of her wings.

"Hey, look!" Sora said, pointing upwards, "The sky's clearing up!" The rest of the kids turned their gazes upwards. The fog was quickly dissipating now that it's creator was well and truly gone. It began to reveal the early evening sky, mostly dark blues, purples, and upside down continents visible through strips of broken reality.

That last one was the more important part.

"What in the world?" Lucy breathed.

"What?" Sora intoned, while Mimi let out a shocked gasp.

"No way!" TK said, staring directly upwards.

"That's not possible," Joe said, sweat beginning to come down the side of his face as he sensed another battle to come, "There's a giant island, floating in the sky, upside down!"

Kari was of a similar mind, she knew this couldn't be good news. She grabbed onto her big brother's arm and buried her face in his side.

"Things just keep getting weirder," Tai said, unable to take his eyes off the disturbance in the sky. He began to frown, "Man, why does this have to happen now, just when we were feeling good about defeating Myotismon! It's like the world is turning upside down or something!"

+-9

Exiting the convention center, the adults became aware of what was happening as well. At the least of the group were Tai and Kari's parents, Mister and Missus Kamiya.

"Hey, what's going on?" their father asked.

"Whatever it is," Jim began as he revved up Joe's scooter, "it doesn't look too good for our side."

"Oh," Missus Kamiya turned to face him, "Jim, have you seen my children? Do you know where Tai and Kari are?"

"No, but I have an educated guess," he told the worrying mother, "I'm gonna search where the monsters were fighting. I'll come back for you when I find them!" He shouted the last part over the sound of the engine as he rode off to go see if his little brother was alright.

+-9

With the fog gone, the ferries were running again, and the very first one to go into Odaiba was packed with people. They were literally shoulder to shoulder on the boat. At the very front, with her worried blue eyes set on the destruction they could already see from the other side of the bay, was Miss Takaishi.

"TK," she breathed, "Matt. Please, both of you, be alright." The view of the sky wasn't helping her, or anyone else for that matter, to _not_ begin to panic.

+-9

Back at the epicenter of the battle, Izzy had pulled out his computer again. With the fog gone, phones, in the buildings that weren't destroyed, started ringing again, and electronic signals started back up. Even the internet connection that had been disrupted was working now. Izzy had used it to check out if what they were seeing was going on anywhere else.

It was. From New York to Alaska, from Beijing to Antarctica, from Moscow to Great Britain. This thing was everywhere, across every sky.

"It doesn't make sense," Izzy said as he read over the findings that people were getting from the phenomenon, "It looks like an entire, upside down continent in the sky, but it doesn't show up on radar, or on any satellite pictures," he looked over the results of all kinds of tests that the people around the world had done, "In fact, no instrument of any kind can prove that... whatever it is, even actually exists."

"It's the Digiworld," Lucy said softly, looking up at the rips in reality.

"What?" Joe said, looking to the girl, "How do you know?"

"I..." she looked away from the sky and over to the blue haired boy, "I can feel it." And indeed she could, she could feel that warm in her chest that had been missing for the last few days. But something was wrong with it, too. That was obvious from the face that they could see it at all.

"TK!" Miss Takaishi yelled at the top of her lungs as she got off the boat in the Odaiba district, "TK! Where are you?" The cries of TK's mother interrupted the conversation at that point.

The little boy turned around to see his mom and a smile spread out across his face as he waved her over, "Mama!"

Hearing her baby's call, Miss Takaishi ran forward, meeting him halfway in a mutual hug, "Oh, TK! I was so afraid I'd never see you again!" Matt watched as his mom and little brother hugged each other, not really sure how he should feel about it. Behind him, his father lit up a cigarette, needing the nicotine after all the events of the day.

"You must have been terrified," the woman said as she pulled out of the hug to look her little boy over for any injuries.

"Uh-uh!" he shook his head, "Matt was with me the whole time."

The woman looked up to see her older son standing there, conflicting emotions on his face, "Matt."

"Hey, mom," he breathed. The two just kind of stared at each other for a moment, but TK wasn't gonna let that fly.

"Come on!" He said with a smile, grabbing her by the hand, "Let's go see Matt, and daddy, too!" he pulled his mother over to his brother, the grin still on his face while their father watched the interaction out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to sour this reunion with his opinion on the woman that had divorced him.

"Oh, Matt," the woman said, though she didn't move to hug her older child, "I'm so proud of you. Thank you, son."

"Yeah, whatever," he averted his gaze, kind of dismissing her compliments.

"Matt, please, don't be like that," the woman begged him softly, the meeting beginning to go down hill quickly.

"Nancy," the man finally said, "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

The woman and the two boys looked over towards Mister Ishida and Nancy said, "Yes, it has."

TK laughed happily, not able or unwilling to sense the tension in the air, "It's been forever since all four of us were together, huh, Matt?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, still not sure how he was supposed to react to this.

"You'll want to hear this, everyone," Izzy said suddenly as he was looking over the news casts he was able to get from his internet connection, "I've been monitoring the news reports. The air force is sending everything they have to figure out what this continent in the sky really is. They don't know anything, so far, but they're assuming it's dangerous."

A little ways away, Joe, Mimi and Sora were watching the reunion between Matt, TK and their parents.

"I can't help but be a little jealous that Matt and TK found their parents, and Izzy, too," Mimi admitted as she crouched down next to Palmon, "I just hope that my parents are okay."

"I know how you feel," Sora said, "Me too." Just as they were saying this, the sound of a scooter motor filled the air. "Huh?" Sora turned to look, "Someone's coming!"

"Alright, my brother!" Joe said, drawing the attention of some of the others, "Hey, I didn't tell him he could ride my scooter."

The older Kido son pulled up to the group and was immediately subjected to the cries from the children to know the status of their parents. He removed his helmet as he answered them, "All the other families at the convention center are okay. They're all back to normal!"

"Alright!" Tai said, slapping a high five with his little sister and covert wiping a happy tear out of his eye while Koromon bounced up and down beside him.

"Sora, did you here that?" Mimi said, clasping hands with the other girl, "They're safe!"

"Let's check the news," Jim said as he pulled a miniature TV from his back pocket.

"_The latest report from the Air Force __Chief of Staff confirms that the strange land mass in the sky is not an illusion of any kind,_" a woman informed them from the news station, "_It is very real and, after several confrontations, apparently very dangerous._"

"It's covering the whole sky," Joe said, realizing that this was world wide.

"It has to be Myotismon's doing," Matt said.

"That's impossible," Tsunomon said, "We destroyed him for good this time!"

"Yeah!" Koromon agreed, "We kicked booty!"

"Well, you heard the news report," Joe said, "It's definitely dangerous."

"Of course it's dangerous," Lucy said, "I can bet that being able to see the Digiworld like this isn't good for either world."

"I'm still not sure how you know it's the digital world," the boy said as he looked at her, "What makes you so sure that's what it is?"

"It's my home, Izzy," she said, looking up at the landscape in the sky, "It's as simple as that."

"I'm sorry," the boy said to her, "I can't accept that as a completely valid answer without proof to back it up. Is there anything else that you can give me? Anything at all?"

Lucy looked back down at the boy for a few moments before looking back at the sky, "There," she said, pointing up at a particular mountain in their view, "That mountain, the very big one, right up there. Doesn't it look familiar to you?"

"Hmm?" He followed the line of her finger, calculating which mountain she was pointing at, moving his eyes to where she was indicating, "Now that you've said it..." he mumbled, then gasped, "Yes, it does! That looks like Infinity Mountain! Tai!" he turned to the leader of the group, "Get out your telescope and take a peek at that peak!"

Tai did as ordered, pulling out his mini scope and looking up at the landmass in the broken sky, "Which one am I looking for?"

"The big one," Izzy said, "The one I'm pointing at."

"Oh, like that helps," the older boy grumbled as he scanned the land mass, "There's gotta be dozen's of mountain's up there." He kept searching anyway, "Wha?!"

"Did you find it?" Izzy asked, turning to Tai.

"What I found is a jet liner!" he said, looking at the body of a plane that was flying dangerously close to the barrier between the worlds.

"Not good!" Lucy cried.

+-9

In the captain's cabin of the plane, the pilots were trying their best not to panic when they weren't receiving any contact from the ground.

"Ground Control," one of the pilots spoke into his head set, "This is flight Two-Two- Four, we have lost our vector, over," there was no response.

"Strange," the other pilot said, "why wont they answer?"

"This is Two-Two-Four to Ground Control, do you copy?" the first pilot kept trying, "I repeat, we have lost our landing Vector. Come in, Ground Control!"

They didn't realize that they were flying so close to the barrier between the worlds or what it would do to their flight trajectory.

"This is crazy," the second pilot said, beginning to sweat, "We can't land now and we don't have the fuel to turn around and go back," suddenly, the lights and switches and gauges started to go nuts, "The alarm! All systems failure! We've got about two seconds to figure everything out!"

"It's no use!" the other pilot replied, "Nothing's responding! We're going down!"

Even as he said it, the plane began to take a nose dive and they could hear the people on board screaming in fear for their lives.

+-9

On the ground, Tai had seen as the Plane touched the edge of the digital world and started to plummet towards the ground.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed, "The plane just reached the edge of that thing in the sky and just headed straight down."

"Biyomon!" Sora said, looking to her digimon. The pink bird nodded and took off, flying towards the plan, Digivolving along the way into Birdramon.

The pilots were desperately trying to pull out of their dead fall, but none of the controls were responding in the slightest.

"If I can just get there in time," Birdramon said to herself as she poured on the speed. As she approached the jet, she noticed something flying right behind the falling jet, "It's Kuwagamon! What's he doing here?" as she watched, the bug passed through the wing of the plane and it froze that wing. The whole jet went into a tail spin.

Birdramon was able to get herself underneath it and stop the spinning, but she couldn't get it to slow down.

"Do it, Birdramon!" Joe called from the ground with the rest of the group that was watching this.

"Birdramon!" Sora yelled, seeing her digimon having trouble, "Digivolve!"

With a touch of energy from the Digivice and the Crest of Love, Birdramon turned into Garudamon. With her increased size and strength, it was easier to get the plane to slow its descent. But that wasn't the only worry she had now.

And she wasn't the only one to realize that. Kabuterimon had taken to the sky as well, hoping to help her steady the plane when he noticed the familiar orange carapace of a digimon that had plagued them on the first day the children arrived in their world.

"Huh? Kuwagamon?" He barely dodged the evil beetle, turning around and firing off his special attack. It streaked through the air, but it had no effect, like his Electro Shocker wasn't even real, "It went right through!"

"Kabuterimon, get away!" Garudamon told him, "Don't touch him!" The blue insect dodged the orange one, and moved to go help Garudamon get the plane to the ground safely. He Digivolved to Megakabuterimon along the way.

When that was done, the two flew back to their partners, de-Digivolving into their In Training forms.

"Good going, Birdramon," Tai complimented, "You brought the plane down safely."

"Guys," Tai turned to everyone, "How'd Kuwagamon get here?"

"He came out of that land in the sky," Yokomon said.

"Lucy was right all along," Izzy said, causing everyone to turn to him and the pink haired girl standing behind him, still looking at the sky. "That giant continent is actually the digital world," Izzy explained to them.

"And it's in trouble," Lucy added.

"What? Wait a minute," Joe said, "I don't get it. How can that be the digital world? Why is it upside down?"

"Guys," Jim called to them, "You better have a look at this."

As the kids ran over to look at his mini TV screen, they heard the reporter go on, "_We bring you footage now of truly bizarre scenes,_" A giant white gorilla with a cannon on it's right arm was terrorizing New York, in Taj Mahal a blue, white and red dragon was flying around, "_No official explanation has yet been given for what we are seeing,_" in Paris a Tyrannomon could be seen stomping about, and in a random airport, Kuwagamon was flying about. In every image with digimon, anything they touched was immediately frozen.

"Kuwagamon again!" Yokomon exclaimed, "And if we touch these digimon, we'll freeze, just like the air plane's wing!"

"And when I fired my Electro Shocker, it passed right through!" Motimon said from Izzy's arms.

"Man," Tai breathed, "What's going on here?"

"Salamon, is that your world, up there?" Kari asked her digimon as she looked up at the sky.

"I think so, but the last time I was there, it was definitely right side up," the puppy digimon informed her.

"Just a minute," Izzy said suddenly, "We've been back in the human world for only a few days, but up there," he looked up for emphasis, "time is much faster. Years and years have passed by."

"And since we left the Digiworld in such a mess, it's had years and years to get worse!" Koromon added, "I can only imagine what it looks like now."

Lucy was just staring up at the window into her home reality. She could feel the wrongness of it, even as the warmth began to return to her. The digital world would not be the same as they remembered it when they got back, that she knew for sure.

"And all the problems in the digital world have become our problems here, in our world," Sora concluded as everyone looked up at the sky.

"That's that!" Tai said suddenly after they'd all had a moment of silence to look up at the sky, "We all have to go back!"

"But how are we supposed to get there?" Mimi asked a rather pertinent question.

"The first time we went to the Digiworld, our Digivices led us," Joe said, "You guys try it again."

"You're coming, too, Joe," Izzy drawled.

"Yeah, come on, big guy," Lucy said, nudging the taller boy, "You really want to say, thirty years from now, that you had the chance to save the world, but chickened out for summer school?"

"Aw," He sighed, his shoulders slumping, "You sure it wont just go away?"

"Sure it will," the girl told him, getting his hopes up, "As soon as we solve the problem." He slumped even more at that.

"Alright, everybody," Tai said, "hold out your Digivices!" He did as he ordered them to do, holding out the little device he had received just before he, and everyone else that had met again at that summer camp, had been sucked into the Digiworld. "We're going back!"

One by one, the others held out their devices as well, their digimon sitting right beside them.

"Next stop, the digital world," Tai went on to say, "Arms and legs inside the ride at all times!"

For a half second, nothing happened. Then, each of their Digivices began to glow with a bright rainbow light that shot up into the sky as a single, solid beam.

"I think it's working, Tai," Izzy said, "This light must be hear to guide us."

"Now all we have to do is follow it," Joe said.

"To the digital world," TK grinned.

"TK!" the little boy's mother called.

He turned around to face her, a slightly depressed look on his face as he realized he'd have to leave her behind to go to the Digiworld again.

"Mom," he said, "Oh, I'm sorry that we have to leave, now that we're finally back together again."

"You can't!" Nancy insisted.

"Let him go," Mister Ishida insisted to his ex-wife, "we've made some selfish decisions of our own, remember?" He was thinking particularly of how they'd split up Matt and TK despite their wishes to stay together, "We have to let them do this. This could be more important than you realize."

The woman had tears in her eyes as she realized that her little baby, both of her little babies, were about to walk into a battle that could get them hurt, or worse, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

"The whole world is doomed if we don't do something, mom," Matt told her, "You know we have to go back. We're doing this to protect you!"

"Matt," she sobbed, her tears falling freely now.

"You guys better get crankin'!" Joe interrupted the emotional moment, "Although, it's hard to believe the fate of the world is in the hands of a bunch of kids like you. I guess if the sun doesn't come up tomorrow, we'll know who to blame!"

"Stop it!" Missus Izumi snapped at the older brother of Joe, "You have to have faith in your brother and his friends! What they're doing is incredibly brave!"

"Whoa, I'm sorry!" The college age boy said, waving his hands wildly to try and placate the woman, "I didn't mean anything!"

"It's okay, he was only kidding," Joe said, opening a pair of eyes that were the most determined that any of the group had ever seen on his face, "And besides," he clenched his fists before him, "I'm gonn make darn sure the sun does come up!"

"Joe," Sora laughed, "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"What a man!" Mimi said too, giggling a bit.

Lucy bumped the other boy playfully on the arm as she said, "Yep, he's a big gosh darn hero!"

The boy blinked for a moment before he realized they were teasing him. In his slight depression at not being taken seriously, he didn't notice it as the beam of rainbow light widened to encompass him and he began to lift into the air.

"Huh?" He intoned, slightly confused by his change in height.

"Alright!" Tai said, seeing this, "All aboard!" He jumped in with Koromon next to him. The others jumped in right behind him and they started to lift up into the air.

Lucy loved it, she almost felt like she was flying.

"Matt, TK," Miss Takaishi called up to her two sons, "Take care of each other!"

The two boys waved to their parents, TK laughing happily at the feeling of weightlessness.

"Sora!" the girl looked up as she heard her name, "I love you, Sora!" Missus Takenouchi was standing just behind the Kamiyas, "Please, come home soon! I'll be waiting here for you!"

"Bye, mama," the girl said softly then leaned forward, raising her voice so her mother could hear her, "Bye, mama!"

"Mama, Papa!" Mimi called down to her parents.

"Bye, dad!" Tai yelled down.

"Bye, Mama!" Kari shouted at the top of lungs.

"Lucy!" the familiar form of her adoptive mother shouted up to the girl, "Lucy! Good luck! And, please, be safe!"

"Mom!" the pink haired girl called back down, "I... I'll try to come back to visit, some day! I promise!"

Right near the beam of light to the digital world, the Kamiya parents were the last to shout their good byes to their children.

"Oh, Tai!" Missus Kamiya called up to him, "Be careful!"

"And take care of your sister, son!" Mister Kamiya ordered.

Lucy, looking at the ground now, specifically at the people that had raised her so far, had to dab her eyes free of tears. She didn't think it would hurt this bad to say good bye to the people that were her parents for almost her whole life. Inside her mind, she promised herself again that she'd try to find some way to at least visit them in the future.

All the children waved goodbye to their loved ones, praying they'd get to see them again. Whatever was messing up the Digiworld was gonna be in for a rude awakening when it tried to stop these kids from finishing the job they had started in summer camp.

Chapter Thirty Six: End.

Please Enjoy.


	37. Chapter 37 Enter The Dark Masters

Chapter Thirty Seven: Enter The Dark Masters

In a dark room, through the lens of a massively powerful telescope, one could see crowds of people on earth staring up at the sky, none of them the wiser about being watched themselves by an evil power. The evil laughter that filled the observatory as what might appear to be a human sat at the controls to the telescope, watching the people of the world of earth.

"Those bit players are frozen with stage fright," the creature that was a digimon said, "Hopelessly waiting for the moment they'll be saved. And yet, there's an unseen twist in the plot!"

"I say we cut straight to the punch line and go straight for the action!" The first of the figures in the observatory appeared human. The second most certainly did not. Long, serpentine body, twin tails at the end and several fins, it would be easy to guess that this was another evolution of Seadramon. As it dove back into the water nearby, that would be proven right.

"Oh, please! That would be boring," another figure appeared, this one much smaller than the last, and once more human in appearance, if only slightly, "I wanna play this drama to the hilt! Let's pull out all the stops and give them what they paid for."

A fourth figure, massive, silent, inhuman, watched the other three converse. It's eyes weren't even visibly as it watched them move about so energetically.

"I'm in complete agreement," the first figure said, floating over towards the smaller humanoid, "A quick victory would be a let down. The Digidestined will be on Spiral Mountain soon. We must rehearse before they get here!" a spot light suddenly shined down on the figure, illuminating him, "It will be their final performance!"

The first of the four dark figures looked like a cross between a mime, a clown and a court jester. White skin, painted red lips, red eyes, and orange hair were the general physical traits, but that was not all. He wore a red petticoat, four swords in blue scabbards crossed on his back, with two light blue ribbons coming off his shoulders. His pantaloons were green and his boots a golden color with curled toes. He had on a half white, half black mask and from the back of that his orange hair came out like a pillar for a good foot of length before turning curly at the ends.

Another spotlight came down just as the serpentine figure popped out of the waves, "Metalseadramon," the first creature announced. Those who guessed it was another evolution of Seadramon were vindicated as the monster was put under the light. It was the size of an average Seadramon, but from the tip of it's hollowed snout, to the end of it's twin tails, it was absolutely covered in metal. Mostly chrome, with bands of gold circling it every so often and a gold helmet, the beast actually had jet engines sprinkled along its serpentine back to make it easier for it to move in the sea or the air. The only part of it not made of metal was it's mane of long, grey hair.

"Puppetmon," the jester digimon announced now, shining a light on the third figure. This humanoid figure only had the general shape right. He was mostly made of wood from head to toe, with bits of metal sprinkled about here and there to make it interesting. It hat red eyes, a red cloth helmet, blue overalls, and a white shirt. On its back was an X shaped wooden panel that had red wires coming out of each end that connected to his legs and arms. In his hands was a large mallet, the head of the weapon looking like a revolvers ammo chamber.

"Machinedramon!" One final beam of light shone down on the final member of this quartet of disaster. It was reflected off of every surface it hit. Withe Metalseadramon, it was easy to see that, while he was covered in metal, he was still flesh underneath. Machinedramon was different. Inside, outside, ever part of this digimon was made of some type of alloy. It's general shape was that of a dinosaur. It had two humongous cannons on its back, and a gun metal black head and neck with two metal horns coming from the back of its head. It was roughly the same size as Metalgreymon, but there was no eye to be seen from the holes made for such.

"I present to you, The Downfall of The Digidestined!" the jester told them enthusiastically, holding his arms up to the sky. The lights shut off suddenly, leaving the four of them once again in the dark in their mountain top observatory.

+-9

The first time the children had entered the Digiworld, they had been drawn into a brightly lit space between the worlds that had lulled them into a nice sleep. Lucy had been the only one who had been able to stay awake to see the dark entity attacking the light and trying to devour them, not that she remembered it. At the moment it was just a half forgotten dream.

This time, as they fell through the space between worlds, there was no light. Darkness ruled it all and their screams of fright as they fell were echoed back to them a hundred fold.

And then, in the blink of an eye, they were waking up in the Digiworld, one by one.

"Well, looks like we're back," Tai said after grunt from the harsh travel they'd just endured.

"Back where?" Mimi asked, looking up at the trees.

"The Digiworld, my home," Lucy said, placing a hand lovingly on one of the oddly colored trees.

"That is affirmative," Izzy said with a grin.

"It's dark," TK observed.

"Yeah," Matt nodded, it's kinda weird.

Sora was looking around at the somewhat familiar land scape before finally turning her eyes to the sky and gasping in shock, "Hey!" she drew everyone's attention, "Look up there!"

The kids all stood to their feet with their Digimon right next to them, their eyes on the sky. From holes in the canopy, they could see... Earth! They could see the world all but one of them belonged in.

"Talk about weird!" Tai said, looking up at the blue and green that was the earth.

"Could that be earth?" Matt needed some confirmation.

"It's merely speculation, but it seems to be a reasonable facsimile," Izzy said.

"Not hard to believe it is," Lucy said, "Think about it, we could see my world from yours. Its not too big of a stretch to think we could see yours from mine."

"A reasonable conclusion," Izzy nodded.

At that moment, Joe realized someone was missing. He took his eyes off the sky and began searching through the nearby flora.

"Gomamon, where are you?" the blue haired boy called, looking for his partner.

"Joe, I've been snoozing over here!" the seal digimon called from Joe's blue duffel bag, popping his head out.

"Huh?" he looked over at the digimon, "Oh, we'll just save the world without you the-"

Before the blue haired boy could finished, a little pink thing flew out of the shin high grass, attacked Joe's face the best it could before jumping away as the ground shifted and churned where the teen landed on his rump after the surprise attack.

"Joe!" Gomamon cried, running towards where he'd seen the enemy digimon disappear to.

The teen in question was hanging off the side of what appeared to be a cliff, "I don't need this," he grumbled.

While that was going on, Gomamon and the other digimon moved to attack their attacker. The seal digimon moved as quickly as he could, but was easily passed by the others, even as they Digivolved.

"Koromon, Digivolve to Agumon!" The dinosaur kept on going.

"Tsunomon, Digivolve to Gabumon!" The furred digimon didn't even pause to look before going after the digimon that had attacked them.

"Motimon, Digivolve to Tentomon!" the bug buzzed by.

"Urimon, Digivolve to Skymomon!" The monkey pulled slightly ahead of the pack with her superior speed.

"Tokomon, Digivolve to Patamon!" the tan digimon took to the air.

"Yokomon, Digivolve to Biyomon!" The pink bird was the final to Digivolve as she passed, but not the last digimon to pass Gomamon by. She was followed by Salamon. Palmon tried to keep up, but ended up tripping over her own roots.

"Hold on!" Kari yelled suddenly, getting the digimon to stop their forward rush. She ran to the front of the pack and crouched down in front of the area where she could see a small silhouette of a creature. She put a kind smile on her face and held out a hand to it as she spoke, "Come out. You're among friends," the creature looked back at her, shivering in it's terror, "We wont hurt you. Don't be afraid."

Finally, the creature seemed to decide that the little girl wasn't lying, and pushed its way forward. It looked like a pink bipedal mouse. It got a few steps forward before it collapsed.

Palmon recognized it immediately, "Oh my goodness! It's Chuumon!"

Mimi came up beside her partner, looking at the familiar digimon she had met so long ago in the Digiworld, "He looks terrible! What he needs is a complete makeover."

"Mimi? Palmon?" The little digimon asked as it looked up at the two of them, hoping it wasn't just dreaming.

'_Something bad happened. Sukamon and Chuumon used to be inseparable,_' Mimi thought, remembering the two digimon she'd experienced when Devimon broke File Island apart.

"I'm so glad you came back to save us," the mouse digimon said weakly, passing out again.

"Wow," Lucy said calmly, "It's great that you've reunited with an old friend," she glared over her shoulder, "Now, if it's not too much trouble, I could use a hand here!" the last part was not so much spoken as it was growled.

The other kids and digimon looked over to see what the problem was. They found Lucy trying to lift Joe up. Unfortunately, she was too small and couldn't get enough leverage to do more than keep the teen from falling into the abyss.

"Hey," Tai said as he and Matt came over, "Quit fooling around!"

"Who's fooling?!" Lucy snapped, "Help me!"

The two older boys grabbed Joe by the back of his shirt and arm respectively, helping the pink haired girl lift the teen back onto solid land.

"Work with us, Joe," Matt said when the boy started panicking after looking down.

Gomamon sat before his partner then, "Sorry about that buddy, we kinda forgot about you."

"Oh, great," Joe panted, "You were off in Lala Land while I get to hang by my elbows."

"Hmm," Gomamon hummed, looking at his left fore flipper, "I wonder what it's like to have elbows."

"What's happening?" Matt asked, looking out at the sections of the forest that began to drop into the abyss below, "Everything's gone wacko!"

"Who," Lucy paused, "What could have done this to the digital world? I kind doubt it was the black gears this time."

across the way, sitting at the base of a tree with his computer out, Izzy was typing rapidly on the keyboard, hoping to get some kind of information about what was going on.

"Are you trying to get a hold of Gennai?" Tentomon asked.

"Well, I'm not playing solitaire," the boy told him.

While he was doing that, the rest of the group had gathered around Mimi and Chuumon, whom she was holding in her hands.

"Chuumon's a mess," Palmon said, "I wonder what happened to him."

"Well, whatever it was, it wasn't very pretty," Biyomon suggested.

"I think that's an understatement," Skymomon added, sitting in one of the tree branches.

"Poor thing," Sora sympathized.

Slowly, the little, pink mouse began to regain his consciousness. His eyes blinked open, and Mimi held him up before her face.

"Chuumon?" the girl asked softly.

"Mimi," the mouse groaned, "I wasn't dreaming, it's really you after all."

"Poor thing," the brown haired girl said to him, "Why don't you tell Mimi all about it?"

"What happened to your friend, Sukamon?" Palmon asked. The poor little digimon grimaced as he closed his eyes in remembrance.

"I... I," tears began to gather in the corners of his eyes, "I'm afraid I lost him," he began wailing in depression as he thought about what had happened. He calmed down enough to explain after a couple seconds, but he was still leaking tears from his eyes, "It happened years ago. After you guys left File Island, Sukamon and I went on with life as usual. You know, eating, eating, and more eating. When suddenly," he sniffed dramatically as he remembered it, "the whole island began to shake! We had no idea what was happening, so we ran for our digi-hides. But the ground broke apart and Sukamon fell," he looked up at Mimi with his water eyes, "I never saw him again, and a powerful, evil force took over the land, causing all kinds of bad things to happen. Then it rebuilt the digital world so it would be easier to conquer!" he hung his head, "I've been hiding ever since."

"You mean the digital world is completely changed from what it was?" Tai asked, incredulously.

"How's it different?" Izzy asked, having closed his computer without contacting Gennai.

"Everything's been discombobulated and taken apart!" Chuumon almost screamed, "The digital world has been relocated way up there!" he pointed to a humongous mountain made of forest, desert and sea, all spiraling upwards, "It's called spiral mountain!"

The kids and their digimon looked up at the swirling tower, disbelief written clearly on their faces. It was kind of hard to believe that all of the digital world had been taken and twisted up into one, giant mountain. But there it was, for all of them to see.

"There's nothing left here of the old world, except some ruins," Chuumon continued.

"So, you're saying it's all up there?" Matt said as he looked at the huge peak, "Huh?"

"Color me cynical, but nothing surprises me about this place," Joe said.

"What force could do this?" Lucy breathed, "Who could be so powerful?"

"Where did all the other digimon go?" Tai asked, "Are they up there, too? Where's Leomon?"

"I don't know," the mouse said, holding onto Mimi for dear life, "But, but I've been told they'll destroy anyone who get's in there way!" he hunched down in the girl's grip.

"Who will?" Sora asked him gently.

"Who?" he opened his eyes again, looking up, "The Dark Masters!"

"Well, they couldn't be too much tougher than anyone else we've wrestled with before," Tai assured everyone.

"No way!" Chuumon exclaimed, panic in his tone, "They'll beat the pants right off of you!"

"We got rid of Myotismon, so, we can get rid of them, too!" the wild haired boy said with a grin, holding his fist before him.

"Don't worry about it," Mimi told the mouse digimon reassuringly, "As long as the nine of us are together, we'll keep those big bullies away from you."

Then evil laughter filled the air. The children gasped as they looked for the source of this maniacal cackling.

"I've been waiting for you, Digidestined!" the forest exploded upwards and out of the smoke came a metal covered digimon.

"No!" Chuumon cried, "It's Metalseadramon! This guy is one real hard nose, and I mean _hard nose_! This is one train you'll wanna miss!"

Metalseadramon began to charge at the children and they did the smart thing. They ran for their lives. They ducked down, barely avoiding his low pass, and rolled to a painful stop.

"Okay," Matt groaned as he got back to his feet, "If that's the way you want it, we can play rough, too!"

While the monster circled in the air above, Tai held up his digivice, "Get ready, Agumon!"

"Right!" the yellow dinosaur said, "Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!"

"Now, it's our turn!" Matt said as the other digimon jumped in as well.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to Garurumon!"

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!"

"Tentomon, Digivolve to Kabuterimon!"

"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!"

"Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!"

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

"Patamon, Digivolve to Angemon!"

"Salamon, Digivolve to Gatomon!"

Metalseadramon didn't seem at all impressed as he came in for another attack. Greymon powered up his signature attack, then fired a Nova blast right at the evil monster. But it was useless. The metal covered digimon cute through the attack like a hot knife through butter, then knocked Greymon aside like a rag doll.

Birdramon tried next, "_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Howling Blaster!_" Garurumon through his lot in with her.

The result was the same. Metalseadramon ignored the attacks entirely, bashing into the digimon, nose first, and knocking them to the ground.

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_"

"_Needle Spray!_"

Just as he had with the last three attacks, all they did was draw the evil digimon's attention to them, and he quickly smashed them as well.

Angemon, Gatomon and SkyYetimon jumped forward next, preparing their attacks.

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

"_Hand of Fate!_"

"_Lightning Claw!_"

None of the attacks affected him at all, and Gatomon nearly got eaten by the sea serpent. The end result turned out to be the same as all other attacks, they were smashed to the forest floor.

"Angemon!" TK cried.

"Oh, no!" Kari was right beside, fearful for her partner.

"That wasn't according to plan," Lucy said, sitting by her fallen digimon.

"You should know that your powers aren't enough!" Metalseadramon shouted down at them as he circled about.

"How come he's beating us so badly?" Mimi asked Izzy, crouched next to Togemon.

Izzy gasped as he brought up the page on this new digimon, "It's because he's a Mega digimon, and even nine Champions can't overtake one Mega. He's stronger than all of us combined!"

"Then we're lost without more power!" Tai exclaimed.

"Ever notice we're at the wrong place at just the wrong time?" Joe asked as he looked up at the monster that was heading right for them.

"Now, it's time to take one nasty ride!" Metalseadramon announced as the barrel at the end of his snout began to glow with a blue white energy for a second. After that charge time, he shot a beam of energy out of his nose that slashed across the forest, crossing the Digidestined and all their digimon, sending them flying. The digimon grabbed their partners and protected them as best they could, but they had no idea how far they would fly before they landed, they only knew it was going to hurt.

When eventually they did land, the impact was enough to knock all of them for a loop, aside from Angemon. The angel digimon was on one knee as he held TK in his arms, looking the boy over for injury.

"Are you alright?" he asked the boy.

"I thought I was broken," TK said, looking up at the angel, "But I guess I must be okay."

The angel chuckled with TK, nodding to the boy. He gasped then when he heard the sound of machinery moving.

Angemon set the boy down and picked up his staff.

"What is it?" TK asked him, looking out into the thick mists with his digimon.

"I don't know," the angel admitted, "Wait, I'll be back." He took to the air to investigate this new threat. He made it only a hundred feet forward before a yellow blast hit him, making him cry out in pain, a second hit and sent him flying backwards. He hit the ground, rolled, and de-Digivolved between one bounce to the next.

"Angemon!" the eight year old boy cried out, waking the others and their digimon, "Oh no," he pulled the little guy into his arms, "Poor Patamon."

Tai and Matt rushed over to see if they could get a view of the monster that was attacking them now, hoping it wasn't Metalseadramon again.

It wasn't.

It was a huge, metal, dinosaur. And it didn't look happy.

"Be prepared for another Mega digimon!" Izzy said, looking at his laptop, "He's called Machinedramon! This metallic mutant can blow out a digimon just like a birthday candle!"

"Not happening," Lucy said, holding up her Crest. The others did the same. Nine Champions couldn't touch Metalseadramon, maybe eight Ultimates could make a few dents in this one.

The process of transformation for all eight of the digimon, minus Patamon, almost seemed faster than normal, like they were used to Digivolving now and could do it quicker.

As a group, they moved forward, with Angewomon and Wildangemon at the lead as two of the fastest.

"C'mon, guys!" Tai shouted, "Show 'im what you're made of!" He pumped his fists back and forth to mimic boxing.

"Hope they're made of something strong enough," Kari said, catching her brother's attention.

"_Giga __Cannon!_" Machinedramon hissed out as they charged, firing several more yellow blasts. The Ultimate level digimon didn't even get a chance to attack, being knocked away like annoying bugs by the massively powerful attacks.

"Angewomon!" Kari cried, moving to catch her digimon, but the angel was so much larger that the little girl was almost knocked flat by the attempt.

So far, the only one not to get blasted was Wildangemon. The angel type was dodging the blasts left and right, almost making it look easy.

"Go, Wildangemon!" Lucy cheered, "Get that metal chump!"

Once she was within range, the angel leapt into the air, using her wings to guide her around more of the yellow blasts as she called out her second, more powerful attack, "_Spear of The Sky!_" The spear in her hand began to glow the color of the sky, humming to life with a massive amount of energy. As she slammed down on the massive digimon's head, stabbing the spear right into the center of his fore head, a pillar of pure, blue light shot up into the sky, clearing the immediate area of fog.

"Wooh!" Lucy pumped a fist in the air, "That oughta teach him a lesson!"

"When the light cleared, Wildangemon stood on the head of Machinedramon, staring in horror at the insignificant amount of damage she'd done with her most powerful attack. A scratch, a single divot in the very top of his head.

"_Giga Cannon!_" The mechanical dinosaur hissed again, both his back mounted cannons swiveling to target the angel.

"Oh, this is gonna hurt," Wildangemon said, bracing herself for the twin yellow blasts at point blank range. The explosions sent her careening back to the rest of the group.

Even so, the monster didn't stop firing, quite literally blasting the ground out from under the group's feet.

The children naturally screamed when they fell into what seemed like an endless black pit. Their digimon, injured as they were, did their best to keep their partner close, ready to take the brunt of the damage from the fall again.

But it would seem they wouldn't have to. Their fall came to a gentle stop, slowly down gradually until their were just floating in the air.

"We stopped," Izzy gasped.

"I can't complain," Mimi said with Chuumon still in her arms, "It's sure a lot better than falling on our heads."

"I second that," Lucy said, raising her hand.

Off to one side, Weregarurumon and Garudamon seemed to still be on an adrenaline rush that they needed to work out. As such, they were pummeling each other back and forth, just tossing out punches at each other over and over.

"Hey!" Matt said as Sora floated over by him, "Can't you two take a break for one minute?"

"Come on, we're all supposed to be on the same side," the girl added.

"We can't control it!" Garudamon grunted as she threw and took more and more punches.

Weregarurumon took another punch then spoke, "That's right! Our bodies are doing this all by themselves!"

"All by themselves, huh?" Sora did not sound convinced. Not until her own body started moving independently, making her take a weird pose, "Oh!"

Joe grabbed onto Zudomon's horn and began to kick his legs like he was running.

"I've always hated any form of exercise!" the boy complained, "What's happening to me?"

Izzy was the first to notice the nearly invisible wires connected to his every limb and finger.

"We've become string puppets," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, "And someone's operating us!"

"Heh! Well, aren't you a little smarty pants," a childish voice called down to the children. They looked up to see a living puppet.

"Who are you?" Izzy asked, his voice tinged with fear.

"How 'bout if I help you look up my profile on your special computer," the digimon held out his right hand and began to wiggle his fingers. Izzy was forced to open up his laptop and typed rather woodenly to pull up the digimon identification program.

Izzy gasped, "He's also a Mega digimon!" he informed the others, "Puppetmon has a controlling personality and a rotten temper. Get him mad and he'll bop you with his hammer!"

Puppetmon jumped down from the ledge he'd been sitting on to confront the Digidestined face to face.

"If you have to hit something, you should bop yourself for wearing that stupid helmet!" Mimi exclaimed, glaring at the evil digimon.

"Mimi!" Lilymon tried to get her stop before she made the digimon mad.

"I'm gonna have to let you go for now," the wooden digimon said, lifting one hand into the air to separate the human's from their digimon partners, "I promise to destroy you," he hefted his unique hammer over one shoulder, "_Puppet Pummel!_" blasts of energy shot out of the head of the mallet, smashing into all the Ultimate level digimon and draining them of their energy.

One by one, the digimon reverted to their In Training forms, the only exceptions being Agumon, Gabumon and Gatomon. Urimon was still suffering from the point blank blasts from Machindedramon.

When all the digimon had de-Digivolved, Puppetmon cut the strings and let the children continue their fall into the dark pit.

Luckily for them, their fall wasn't so far below. They landed, painfully, but they were otherwise okay, suffering only bumps and bruises. They were all groaning as they sat up.

A sudden honking nearby drew Tai's attention, then everyone elses.

From around one of the pillars in the coliseum they'd landed in, a clown appeared, balancing on a a big red ball.

"Well, hello there, boys and girls!" He said dramatically to the Digidestined, "And welcome! Today, I'm going to tell you an _amazing_ story!" He pulled a crayon drawn picture of the group of children and their digimon in front of himself, "Once upon a time, there were nine Digidestined. They went with their digimon companions to try to save the world," he pulled that card away to show another of the group climbing the spiraling tower that the world had become, "The children had discovered that, in order for them to do it, they had to climb up to the top of Spiral mountain," he pulled that card away to show another crayon drawing of the kids falling to their doom, "But, to their dismay, the Dark Masters defeated them. So sad!"

"Hey, clowny, no one is laughin' at your story!" TK said loudly, holding up one fist.

The clown smiled at him, "Oh dear, I'm sor sorry, did I happen to mention this is a true story? I wanted to give you a preview of the plot!" His laughter turned maniacal as the clown facade faded away to show an evil digimon floating in the air before him, "Fools!" He was the fourth, as yet unnamed, Dark Master.

Chuumon was screaming his little head off as he saw the monster standing before them, his fear overriding his mind, "It's Piedmon! He's a Mega phantom digimon of the worst kind! You never know what he's gonna look like next!"

"Well, I think your plot needs a few rewrites!" Tai yelled up to the monster, turning with Matt to their digimon, holding out their Crests to focus their power, "Agumon!"

"Gabumon, you can do it!" the blonde boy said.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!"

"Gabumon, Warp Digivolve to Metalgarurumon!"

"Yeah!" The wild haired leader of the Digidestined said, "Let him know we mean business, Wargreymon!" The digimon in question flew over his shoulder at the evil digimon.

"Metalgarurumon, teach that joker a lesson he'll never forget!" Matt ordered his digimon. The cybernetic wolf flew up towards the sinister clown right behind Wargreymon.

"_Nova Force!_" the Mega evolution of Agumon shouted as he summoned a small sun that he threw at Piedmon. The evil digimon just dodged around it like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

"_Ice Wolf Claw!_" Metalgarurumon breathed a torrent of cold straight at the monster, but he just drew one of the four swords on his back and cut through the blast before it could even touch him.

"_Trump Sword!_" Piedmon yelled as he pulled the other three swords from their sheathes and threw them at the two other Megas. They hit, to great effect, knocking both Agumon and Gabumon out of their Mega forms and right back to the ground whence they came.

"This is bad news," Joe said.

"Even two Mega digimon couldn't put him down," Sora added, "That's really bad news!"

"Not to mention he's a fashion disaster," Mimi said next.

"Your two Megas are newly Digivolved," Piedmon said as he floated down towards them, "How can you hope to have them compete against an experienced and, might I boast, a superior digimon?!"

"Tai," Agumon was barely managing to speak, "Sorry."

"Please, permit me to present my fellow actors in this charming comedy of errors!" he held one hand over his chest then gestured to his left, "Metalseadramon!"

The evil digimon floated out of the way of an explosion as the serpent in question flew up out of the ground.

"Machinedramon!" Piedmon introduced next, gesturing to his right as the metal dinosaur, now with a visible scar from Wildangemon's attack on his gun metal black head, crashed through the side of the coliseum. He hissed an angry growl at the children, looking particularly at Lucy and Urimon.

"Puppetmon!" the jester floated back as the wooden Mega came down from the sky, upside down with a grin on his sinister face.

He giggled evilly as he looked at the children from his upside down position, "You thought you were through with me, but I wanted to have more fun!" He flipped over and got in formation with the other Dark Masters.

"And myself," the evil clown finally said, "Piedmon! We'd like to start by asking for audience volunteers! Who would like to be the first to be destroyed?" no one answered the call and the digimon grinned, showing fangs in his mouth, "Oh, come now, don't tell me you have stage fright."

Mimi was standing there, looking at all this overwhelming force arrayed against them and could feel the breath of the grim reaper on her neck. Her eyes well up with tears and she began to cry.

"I didn't even want to go to want to go to camp in the first place! I just wanted to go to the mall!" she sobbed, "Can't somebody else save this silly world, besides me?"

"Mimi!" Sora said, trying not to sound scolding.

"Come on," Lucy said to her, trying to be sympathetic, "I know how you feel, but this isn't the time to break down."

The girl just ignored the two of them, "I just wanna be a normal kid and not have any big responsibilities, okay? I mean, come on, is that too much to ask? It's not fair!"

"Regh!" Piedmon grunted in annoyance, "Your incessant whining is getting on my nerves!" He lifted a hand into the air, summoning a dagger to his hand, "You will be the first one to go!" The girl gasped as she realized she had drawn the evil digimon's attention, but she couldn't make herself move when he threw the knife.

But Chuumon could. He was afraid, more afraid than he ever was at any time in his life. All four of the Dark Masters stood before him, ready to destroy these children with their full powers, and he would just be collateral damage, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. But he could at least stall it.

The little pink mouse jumped into the air, right into the path of the knife, stopping it from getting to Mimi. The knife broke apart into raw data, and soon Chuumon would, too.

Mimi gasped and kneeled beside the little digimon, lifting him into her hands again, "Chuumon, speak to me, you poor thing!"

The mouse barely opened his eyes, "Mimi," he managed to say, "it's time for me to be deleted... ungh!"

"Chuumon!" the girl cried, even as the little creature broke apart into a sparkling stream of data.

The children all hung their heads in depression as the data streamed away from them. None of them could, nor would, make light of that little digimon's noble sacrifice.

"Chuumon was a fool!" Piedmon's voice interrupted their mourning, "So, now that he's out of the way, who would like to be the next one to make their grand exit?"

Tai grit his teeth and clenched his fists as he looked up at the monster, "Piedmon, you're gonna be washed up when we're through with you!"

This only caused the assembled Dark Masters to laugh. A haughty declaration and nothing more, that was. They stood on Death's door step, with nothing they could do to save themselves.

"Be my guest," Piedmon told the wild haired boy, inviting any among them to hit him with their best shot, knowing it would be useless.

"_Pit Bomb!_" A little black winged bomb with a smiley face on it streaked through the air. It exploded just before it reached the four evil digimon, blinding them momentarily.

When the light faded away, the Digidestined were nowhere to be found.

In truth they were encapsulated in a floating bubbled, all but invisible. At the head of the bubble, maintaining it and keeping it flying, was a familiar pink puff ball of a digimon.

"Hey, Piximon!" TK exclaimed happily, "Perfect timing!"

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see a walking powder puff in my life," Lucy added.

"I missed you," the digimon said with a smile.

"Prodigious," Izzy intoned with awe as he looked at their bubble, "You cleverly used a barrier to avoid detection!"

"I sure did," the pink digimon nodded.

"Piximon," Tai said now, "You said it was possible to save the planet if all nine of us were together. How come it's not happening, huh? What's up with that?"

"The truth is, being together's not enough," Piximon told him, "There's still something else that you need to do to beat 'em."

"How are we going to find out if you wont help?" Sora asked.

Joe agreed, "Yeah, enough with the riddles!"

"This is something you will discover on your own," Just then, the barrier took a hit and the little digimon cringed.

"Aha!" Metalseadramon said, Piedmon right beside him, "Here you are!"

"I'll try to stop them," Piximon said, "Meanwhile, make a run for it and climb to the top of Spiral Mountain, but you better move it!"

"You can't stop them!" Matt said, clenching his fists, "They're all Mega digimon!"

"I know I can't win, but I should be able to distract them long enough for you to get away," the pink puff ball told them.

"That's not acceptable!" Lucy said firmly, "My dad didn't believe in necessary sacrifice and neither do I!"

"Yeah!" Tai agreed, "I'll stay with you!"

"No way!" Piximon said, finally exerting some authority, "This isn't just for you, this is for the sake of all digimon! We need you on Spiral Mountain! You're the only ones we can count on!"

Outside of the barrier, Metalseadramon was firing up his main attack, the barrel at the end of his snout starting to glow with bright blue-white light, "_River of Power!_" The wide beam of pure energy slammed into the barrier, but it didn't break. Instead, Piximon came out with a growl in his throat as he glared at the Dark Masters.

He turned to the children in the barrier, "Please, go now, you have an important task ahead of you! Once you succeed, no one will ever be able to stop you again!" He pulled his spear over his head and swung it at the invisible bubble, sending them flying off before the evil digimon could stop him, yelling one final message to the Digidestined, "I know you will make me proud of you!"

"He's stronger than he looks," Gabumon commented.

"He'll have to be," Matt nodded, the coliseum being left far, far behind them.

"Do you think it's possible he can do it?" Kari asked.

"I don't know, Kari," Matt's digimon spoke again, "I hope so."

Before long, they were sent so far away from the coliseum that they couldn't even see it anymore. Lucy was standing right at the edge of the bubble, glaring back at the coliseum with her hands on the bubble. She couldn't believe he did that, sacrificed himself. She knew why he did it, and it was for all the right reasons, but she couldn't let herself think it was the right decision. Her adoptive dad had told her all about the idea of the sacrifice of the few for the needs of the many. How people saw it as a necessary evil. He told her straight up that he'd never agree with that, that he'd fight it at all costs, and she told him that he was right.

"I wont let your sacrifice be in vain," she whispered to herself. She'd never agree with it, never initiate such a move, but she would use what he'd given them to the fullest. They'd stop the Dark Masters. There was no other option now. Not after what he and Chuumon had done for them.

Chapter Thirty Seven: End.

Please Enjoy.


	38. Chapter 38 Sea-sick And Tired

Chapter Thirty Eight: Sea-Sick And Tired

When the barrier finally dissolved from around the children, they were left beside a beach in a very thick fog. The drop, while not far, was still a little abrupt, and the result was a pile of kids and digimon. By luck, or by fate, TK and Kari ended up at the top of the pile, while poor Joe ended up at the bottom.

"Please," Joe begged with a wheeze, "get off!"

With a scramble, the children got off the pile and Joe was finally able to sit up and take a deep breath. It was kin of majestic, seeing the blue haired teen sit up and take a deep breath as the fog slowly dissipated.

Well, it was, until Joe started hacking and coughing.

"Ah, jeeze," the boy said after taking another breath, "Now I remember why I wanted to stay home. The digital world is killer on my allergies."

Lucy laughed, along with the others, and patted him on the back, "Would you really want to be the one to say that you gave up saving _two_ worlds because of a runny nose, Joe?"

The boy sighed in defeat, "No."

"See," the girl said, turning around to examine their nearby environment, "It may be dangerous and allergy inducing, but in the end, when-not if- we succeed in defeating the Dark Jerks, you wont even be worried about your sinuses."

"Well said, Lucy," Sora said, smiling at her younger friend.

"Hey, looks like the fog is clearing up," Tai said as the group found themselves once more under the sun of the digital world, with no mists or clouds to obscure it.

"Great," Joe said with a grumble as they looked around the beach, "Now, we can _clearly_ see we're lost."

"It's more productive to think of ourselves as on our way, Joe," Izzy said, slightly scolding the boy.

"Yeah," Matt said, "I feel better already," the blonde was feeling about as sure of their direction as Joe was.

"All I know is, I'm getting pretty hungry," TK said, holding Patamon.

"And I'm getting cold," Kari said next.

"But everybody's okay, right?" Tai said, "Besides being hungry, and cold, and lost."

"Don't forget about frightened, tired and upset about Piximon," Sora added next, holding Yokomon. She, along with everyone aside from Tai, Matt and Lucy were sitting down for the moment.

"Otherwise, we're fine," Matt added sarcastically, turning to look at the sea.

The entire group then, children and digimon alike, took a moment then to truly observe their surroundings. Lucy was looking towards the top of Spiral Mountain. That was where the evil digimon were hiding. They were sitting up there, just waiting for an opportune moment to try and destroy the group. Lucy's face formed a frown. That was not gonna be an easy fight, especially if she had anything to say about it.

"Hey," Izzy said suddenly, "I believe we've been to this location previously," he pointed to a line of rubble, "Look!"

"What? Where?" Sora asked, looking at the rubble then beyond it.

"Those smashed up phone booths!" the boy went on to say. Now that she looked closer, Lucy's eyes widened. That rubble really was the booths. The one's they'd seen on their first day in the Digiworld. Yeesh, had it only been a little over three months since then? It felt like it was centuries ago.

From the gasps of the other children, she wasn't the only one to remember that first day and the beach debacle that had happened when they found the phone booths.

"You don't think that they could be the same ones, do you?" Sora asked, looking at the mass of scrap metal.

"Of course!" Tai exclaimed, imagining the booths lined up like they were, so long ago, "I can't believe it. All this time, we thought were making great progress, but now it looks like we were just traveling in one big circle."

+-9

From the top of Spiral mountain, in the main lair of Piedmon, said digimon was spying on the children with his massive telescope array. He watched as they stood before the scrap metal, discussing it and what they should do next.

"How small they look from here," Piedmon said, "Like ants. Strange that such little creatures could cause so much trouble!" He stood from the chair and turned to one of his compatriots, Metalseadramon to be specific.

"They wont for long," the metal sea serpent said with a glint in his red eyes, "They're on the edge of my territory now, the sea. I'll be the one to finish these Digidestined, once and for all!"

"Hmm," Piedmon smiled, "Bold words," his eyes narrowed at the other Mega, "but you're not the first to make such a boast, Metalseadramon!"

"But I will be the last," the serpent stated, as though it were already fact, "They'll be shark bait before the day is through!" his evil chuckles filled the air as he moved into his realm, water.

+-9

Back on the beach, the kids had moved on, walking along the beach towards the top of Spiral Mountain. Tai was at the lead, as usual, with the procession behind him following along in any rag tage order they felt like at the time. Currently, Matt was right behind him, followed by TK, as usual, with Kari right beside him. As the only two eight year olds of the group they seemed to just naturally interact well together.

"So, we've all just been going in one big circle, huh?" Matt said, "Makes the whole thing seem kind of pointless, doesn't it?"

"Hold on!" Sora said suddenly, letting Yokomon hop out of her arms, "Maybe that it! Maybe the pointlessness of it is the whole point!"

"What?" Agumon asked as he collapsed to the ground. He and Gabumon were really feeling the strain from the day. They'd gone through too many evolutions and gotten their butts kicked too many times to be chip and cheerful at the moment, especially without the prospect of food.

"Kay, you lost me," Lucy said with a blank expression on her face.

"Yeah," Tai said, sarcasm clear in his tone, "Thanks for the philosophy. That's a big help."

Before more could be said or supposed about what it meant that they were back at the place they started their journey, someone began screaming for help, out in the sea.

"Help! Save me!" Out in the ocean, nearly a hundred feet from the shore, someone was screaming and splashing up a storm.

"Look! Out there!" Mimi said needlessly, "Someone's drowning!"

"Someone's gotta do something!" Kari exclaimed, holding her hands before her chest.

TK looked to the digimon, but from Agumon to Urimon, they were all exhausted, "They're too tired, they'll be drowned themselves!"

"Okay, then in that case, we'll have to go!" the little girl said, prompting herself and TK to start moving forward. Before they could get far, however, their big brothers stepped in the way.

"Kari!" Tai said, holding her by the shoulders, Matt doing the same for his brother.

"Whoa, wait up, TK," the older blonde said.

Once he had his little sister's eyes on him, the wild haired boy said, "Maybe someone bigger should go."

"We can use that outrigger," Matt said, looking towards a canoe that the kids hadn't noticed there a few seconds before.

"I'm coming, too!" TK said with a stubborn set to his jaw.

"Me, too!" Kari agreed.

"Okay, okay," the older blonde said, chuckling slightly at their determination to do what was right and save some body.

"Hey, wait up, I'm coming, too," Sora said.

"I can help!" Mimi added to the mix as all but one of the children started heading for the boat.

It was just as they were all getting in that Joe noticed someone was missing, "Lucy, aren't you coming?"

"No, not this time," the girl said, though she was gripping the hem of her sleeveless hoodie rather tightly, "If I go too, there wont be any room in the boat for the person when you all get out there."

"Oh," the boy said, his eyebrows raised at that, "I hadn't thought about that."

"Yeah, it' gonna be a little cramped for you all as it is," she said, "Add me and whoever's out there and it'll be down right uncomfortable for everyone involved."

As the kids moved out to sea, leaving Lucy and their digimon on the shore behind them, the placement of them was, from back to front, Izzy at the very back of the boat, then Mimi, just in front of her were Joe and Sora paddling, then it was Tai and Matt also paddling, and, finally, TK and Kari were at the head of the boat, watching as the person in the water splashed and called out for help.

"Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" Tai and Matt said in unison, keeping the rhythm of their rowing.

When they began to approach the person that was drowning, the splashing stopped and revealed, not a person in danger, but a grey spike sticking up through the middle of a life saver. The voice changed from screams for help to sadistic, deep chuckles.

"Did his voice change, or what?" Mimi said, frowning slightly at this development.

The outrigger came to a slow halt next to the spike and the children had only a few moments to examine it before another familiar appearance from their first day in the Digiworld made itself known.

A huge geyser of water preempted the pink head of Shellmon lifting out of the sea, a growl in his throat as he looked at the children with hunger in his eyes.

"Tai! A sea monster!" Kari said, shocked.

"You can say that again!" Tai said back to the little girl, "That's Shellmon, and he's not here to play water polo!" The kids that had hands on the oars didn't waste a second, turning the boat around and rowing towards the shore. "Paddle like crazy!"

"There's no escaping!" Seadramon shouted at them, "You're in my element, now!"

On the beach, the digimon and Lucy saw all this going on.

"Oh, this is not good," the pink haired girl breathed.

"C'mon, guys! Move it!" Agumon shouted out at them.

"Stroke! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" the wild haired leader called out, faster than he did before. They were all but flying across the water. But it wasn't fast enough. Shellmon remained right on their tail, laughing maliciously.

"He's right on top of us!" Mimi cried, looking at the gaping open mouth that was bearing down on her and Izzy.

"Watch out!" the tech genius said as he and Mimi ducked down, not wanting to be chewed on.

Luckily, the four kids at the oars were just fast enough to be able to get out of his way before he ended up chowing on the back of the outrigger.

"Ugh! That breath!" the girl in the pink hat gagged, "Ever hear of flossing?!" Once again, the only thing that could be seen of the sea digimon was the large spike in the middle of the life saver. It sliced through the water like a sword through a tree.

"Stroke! Stroke!" Tai continued to call out, "Hey, are you guys paddling, or am I just talking to myself?"

Even as he said that, the spike approached, faster than it had before. It cut right through the two support beams that connected the outrigger to it's namesake, causing the boat to wobble dangerously.

Shellmon surfaced with another geyser of water, a look of victory in its eye.

"We may be exhausted, but we can't just sit here, we've gotta help," Agumon said from the beach. Gatomon, Patamon and Gabumon agreed, and moved forward to do something about it when Motimon stopped them.

"No," he said, drawing their attention, "Leave it to us, you save your digi-strength."

The rest of the digimon Digivolved into their Rookie forms.

"Bukamon, Digivolve to Gomamon!"

"Urimon, Digivolve to Skymomon!"

"Tanemon, Digivolve to Palmon!"

"Motimon, Digivolve to Tentomon!"

"Yokomon, Digivolve to Biyomon!" the bird, monkey and bug took to the air while the seal went by sea. "Let's go!" Biyomon ordered, leading the offensive.

Palmon remained on the beach, but was still in the battle as well, "_Poison Ivy!_" Her tendrils flew out of her hands, wrapping around Shellmon's neck and the green tentacles on his head, pulling him off course.

"What's going on?" The monster asked.

"Here's my _Spiral Twister!_" Biyomon shouted, sending the swirling green flames at the sea creature.

"_Super Shocker!_" Tentomon shouted next, zapping Shellmon across the face. The sea monster turned off his path, allowing the children in the boat to get away.

"Go, _Marching Fishes!_" Gomamon's call preceded a couple hundred rainbow colored fish coming up from the seas below. Instead of adding this attack to the ones going against Shellmon, the fish all worked themselves into a tightly packed school to both steady and move what was left of the out rigger. Gomamon himself was pushing from the very back.

"Whoa! Now, that's more like it!" Tai said with a grin, "This is the way to travel!"

Skymomon waited until the kids were well and truly safe before moving to join the fight with Biyomon and Tentomon. Previously, she had been acting as an escort for the boat, ready to fire off an attack the moment the monster moved closer to them. But now, with them getting to safety, she was free to join the onslaught.

As such, Tentomon, Skymomon and Biyomon just followed Shellmon around at this point, harassing him with their attacks. More Super Shockers and Spiral Twisters and Whirlwind Fists were thrown his way than ever before and it got to the point that he couldn't take it anymore.

"Aw, forget this!" he growled as he ducked his head and arms back into his shell and dipped down beneath the wave. Tentomon and Biyomon tried to go after the sea monster, but all they ended up doing was getting themselves wet. Luckily, the monster had left the life saver and the two of them managed to keep themselves afloat with that.

Skymomon giggled at them slightly, "You look like a couple drowned rats," she said as she brought them back to shore by grabbing the floatation device with her long prehensile tail and flying towards land.

"Yes," Tentomon intoned, "Diving after Shellmon was, perhaps, not our brightest idea yet."

"You can say that again," Biyomon heaved a sigh.

"Hey, smile, we saved the day!" the monkey said, pumping one furry fist into the air.

"Yeah, we did, didn't we!" Biyomon began to cheer up, looking brighter and the antennae on Tentomon's head, which had been drooping, were now perking up as well.

"I see your point!" the bug said.

Once they got to land, the digimon were happy with themselves, but completely wiped out. The only digimon of the five that went out to help the kids that wasn't practically asleep in their partner's arms was Palmon.

"I know they're all dead tired, and they may not feel like it at the moment, but I think today proves that our digimon are getting stronger and stronger!" Tai said once they were sure everyone was okay. Kari was standing right next to him as he looked at the group.

"That'd be great," Kari said, looking up at her brother, "but what makes you think so?"

The boy looked towards the sky as he reminisced about their first day in Digiworld, "I remember the last time we took on Shellmon. Agumon had to eventually turn into Greymon before we could finally beat him! And even then, it was close!" he turned his eyes back on the rest of the group, "But this time, they beat him easily, without Greymon!"

"Yeah, but don't forget, Tai, they ganged up on him," Agumon said as he and Gatomon came over to their partners, "It was five of them against one."

"But they didn't have to Digivolve as far to do it," the wild haired boy said, "I still say it means you're stronger than you were."

"Or maybe Shellmon's just weaker than he was," his little sister suggested.

"How come everyone's being such a downer all of a sudden?" Tai asked, getting a little annoyed with all this pessimism, "I'm trying to be positive here! Besides," he looked towards the sky again, "I still can't get out of my mind something that Piximon said to me back there."

"What's up?" Lucy asked, hoping for an insight into his thoughts.

"When we were in that barrier, I asked him why the nine of us together weren't enough to defeat the Dark masters," the boy explained, "I mean, it's worked on everyone else, so far. So why not them? So, Piximon said that being together wasn't enough, remember? He said there was something more that had to happen," he looked at the rest of the group with a smile on his face, "I think he meant that we had to get stronger, and that's just what's happening!"

"Yeah," Sora said, a smile adorning her own face as well, "Maybe Tai's right?"

"I feel stronger!" Biyomon added from the girl's arms.

"Come to think of it, you are looking kind of buff," Matt said to his digimon.

"Thanks very much! That's a compliment, right?" Gabumon turned to his friend.

As he said that, Tentomon buzzed over to Izzy with a question of his own, "Do I look stronger to you, Izzy?"

"I don't know," the boy shrugged, "Make a muscle."

Tentomon fell out of the air in his depression as he cried out, "I was!"

"Am I looking stronger, Lucy?" Skymomon asked her partner, looking up at her.

"I think so," the pink haired girl said with a smile, "Soon enough, you'll be able to arm wrestle a gorilla!" This inspired a grin from the monkey as well.

"Do I look different, TK?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah," the little boy said, holding his digimon up, "You look buffed out to the max!"

"Kari?" Gatomon turned to her newly discovered partner.

"Well, to be honest, you don't look any different to me," the girl said honestly, but with an encouraging smile, "but give it time, Gatomon, you'll catch up with the rest!"

The cat's ears drooped slightly and she looked towards the ground, "If you say so," she was obviously hoping for similar praise as the other digimon.

"Come to think of it," Agumon said, trying to cheer her up, "your coat's looking glossier!"

"Really?" the cat digimon asked, her ears perking up again, "You think?"

With this good mood spreading around now, it was hard not to chuckle a little bit. Soon enough it spread to the others and, what was turning into a miserable day, was suddenly a lot brighter.

With a grin and Skymomon on her back Lucy decided to add her own hypothesis to the mix, if she could get a little back up from Izzy for it. She walked over to the boy and whispered her theory to him. The boys eyes widened for a moment before he smiled and nodded.

"Lucy has just brought to my attention another piece of data that might support your theory, Tai," the tech genius said.

"What's that?" the wild haired boy turned to the pink haired girl and the computer genius.

Izzy looked at Lucy pointedly. It was her theory, it was she who had to explain it.

"Right, well," she cleared her voice, "I think you're definitely right about all our digimon getting stronger because of how they Digivolve, now."

"What do you mean?" Biyomon asked.

"Well," the girl paused, to make sure she was presenting her idea right, "Remember when you Digivolved to Garudamon for the first time?"

"I certainly do," Sora said, grinning as she remembered how she found out that her mother really did lover her after all.

"And do you remember how long it took for her to turn back into Biyomon?" Lucy added.

"Yeah," the red headed girl said slowly, looking to her partner, "Biyomon, that first time, it took nearly the whole day for you to turn back into this form, but only a couple hours ago you de-Digivolved, and look at you now!"

"You see," Izzy said now, "Tai's belief is viable."

"Uh-huh!" The boy intoned with a wider grin than ever.

As that conversation was ending, a new conversation piece was beginning to make itself known. The sun, if the kids weren't mistaken, was beginning to get bright and brighter, almost blinding in its intensity.

"Whoa," Matt said, "did it just get brighter? Or is it just Tai's sunny disposition?"

Ignoring the joking insult directed at him, the wild haired boy said, "Maybe it's like a mirage."

The kids all looked around as he said that, looking at the brightly lit scenery until they ended up looking forward. There was something there, barely visible in the absurdly bright light.

"Huh?" Matt squinted his eyes against the light that was obstructing his view, "Was that shack there before?"

"Maybe somebody moved in while we were gone," TK suggested.

"Mmm," Mimi hummed in delight, "Something smells deliciously like food!"

"Let's take it easy, everyone," Izzy said from beside Kari and Gatomon, "Remember, we're in the Digiworld, where not everything is what it appears to be."

Tentomon buzzed over at that point, saying, "Looks may be deceiving, but smell? That's something else, and I definitely smell grilling hamburgers! See," he pointed forward with one claw as the brightness from the sun faded back to normal, "It's a snack bar! Burgers, soda, ice cream, pizza!"

The thought of those foods and more shot through the minds of the group of children like streams of rainbow light. Their mouths began to water as they started to fall prey to their hunger.

"Even if it is a mirage, I'll take my chances!" Tai said suddenly, "Gang way!" With that, he took off, running forwards, the rest of the kids, with one notable exception, right on his tail. The exception was Lucy who had a palm to her face. Didn't they just go through this, not even five seconds ago?

"Lucy," Skymomon tugged on the girl's hoodie, "aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming, but I'm walking. If they set off some kind of trap, we can save them if we don't get caught in it," the girl said while heaving a sigh.

"Why do you think it's a trap?" Skymomon asked.

"Maybe being here has made me kind of cynical, but every time we find something that is too good to be true, it usually is," she said as she walked forward, her arms crossed and glaring at the hut.

Just ahead of her, Joe was handing Mimi a boot of hers, apparently having accidentally tripped her.

"Hey," Joe said as he noticed the pink haired girl wasn't running with the rest of the group, "aren't you hungry?"

"Starving," Lucy admitted, "I haven't had a thing since early yesterday morning in the human world. I'm also not rushing into this."

"Why not?" Mimi asked, "It smells real enough, doesn't it?"

"So did the mansion," Lucy reminded her.

+-9

The moment the rest of the children and their digimon made it into the snack bar, almost as soon as they noticed that it was completely empty, a swirl of sand piled up at the entrance to the hut, blocking their exit.

"What's that?" Sora asked, turning around to see what had happened, then gasped out, "It's a trap!"

Immediately afterward, another whirlwind of sand started up, and from the ground beneath their feat, between them and the blocked exit, a monster appeared with an excited chuckle.

"Oh, ho ho! Snack time!" it called out. It was a sandy color, with large, blue eyes. It vaguely resembled a scorpion, if you replaced all the legs of the arthropod with razor sharp blades and put a hooked sword in the place of the poisonous stinger. The only limbs this ugly bug had that weren't bladed at the end was a pair of hook like claws that came almost directly out of his face. Underneath his main mass was his mouth, surrounded by several more small hooked limbs to hold whatever morsel he was munching on right their, leaving his other limbs free.

The kids gasped in fear upon seeing this massive, bladed arthropod and Patamon spoke up to explain what he was, "It's Scorpiomon! One of Metalseadramon's flunkies! Between his pinchers and his tail, it's hard to know which end of him is worse!"

"Sorry, but the only munchies around here are you," the scorpion said, "Now, say good night, it's bed time?"

"Yeah?" Matt asked aggressively, getting ready to fight back against this creep.

"Yeah!" the monster lifted itself up so that the children could see it's mouth, then called out, "_Scorpion Storm!_" TK and Kari were pulled in close by Tai, the older boy trying to shield them from the effects of the attack, but it did no good. They were all hit by the monsters sandy breath, beginning to lose consciousness.

"Can't breathe," Sora gasped, "Can't...uh!" she was the last to pass out from the attack.

+-9

From outside the hut, the three Digidestined not caught in the trap could hear the sounds of a struggle.

"Those sounds never mean anything good!" Joe exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Gomamon said, hopping forward.

"Just once," Lucy began, "I'd like to see a place like this that wasn't a trap!"

"Oh, no!" Mimi whined, "Something tells me this means no chilli dogs!"

As the approached the closed off entrance to the hut, Gomamon gestured for silence. The three kids and their digimon slowly approached the hut, tip toeing along as quietly as they could manage. They moved around to one side of the hut and opened small holes in the dried grass paneling.

What they saw was not encouraging.

"Oh, wow," Mimi breathed, seeing the whole group, aside from those outside the hut, laying about, covered in sand, "Are they... could they be..." she didn't want to finish the thought, both her and joe gasping in fear, then covering one another's mouth so they weren't heard.

Doing so allowed them to hear the familiar, evil chuckles of one of the Dark Masters. Lucy quickly gestured for the other two to follow, sneaking through the underbrush around the back of the hut.

There, they saw the metal covered monster that was Metalseadramon, praising his minion.

"Well done, Scorpiomon," he said to his henchmon, "These Digidestined are not so difficult to handle, after all!" he laughed a little more before uncurling from around a net of treats, "Here's your reward."

"Oh! Clams!" the scorpion exclaimed, looking at the great mass of inhabited sea shells that were just dropped in front of him, "Thank you! Thank you, boss!" he held one up over his back with his front most claws, cracked it open with his metal tipped tail, then pulled it to his mouth to consume, "I just love clams!" he threw the used shell over his shoulder, picking up another, and then another to devour, "I just can't get enough of them!" he tossed the latest shell over his shoulder, not realizing it as he clonked Gomamon on the head with it.

The little guy couldn't help a moan of pain, but Palmon shushed him with Skymomon.

"What was that?" the metal sea dragon said suddenly, apparently hearing the moan.

"What is it, boss?" Scorpiomon asked, "You want some?" He had his claws around his pile of uneaten clams, looking like he'd only offered because he was sure that Metalseadramon would destroy him in a second if he refused him.

"Quiet!" the Mega digimon ordered, "I thought I heard something." Behind one of the trees in the forest behind the snack bar, Joe, Lucy and Mimi had crouched down on the ground, staying well out of sight, while their digimon did the same.

"I didn't hear anything," the scorpion digimon said, going back to eating his clams.

"Hm," Metalseadramon intoned, floating over towards the hut. As he did that, the three kids and their digimon sneaked around and out of his path, having to pass almost unbelievably close to Scorpiomon. "Well, now to finish them off," the metal serpent laughed as he nosed aside the roof of the structure, looking at the kids, "Nine little gnats and their digimon accomplices! Hm," he looked at the kids, counting again when something didn't look right, "What's this? There's supposed to be nine of them. Three of them are missing!" he pulled his head out of the shack just in time to get a clam shell bouncing off his nose, "You chuckle headed cockle shell! Stop eating and find the other three now!"

Scorpiomon belched, looking up at the metal monster for a second, "Oh, you got it! Right away! I'm on it!" He began to crawl off.

The kids, hearing this, couldn't help their yelps of fear, covering their mouths too late to stop the scorpion digimon from hearing them.

"Run!" Joe panicked, leading the charge away from the evil scorpion.

For once, Lucy noted as she pulled ahead of the pack, they weren't being outrun by one of their enemies. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Scorpiomon was wheezing and panting harder than they were.

"Get back here!" the digimon ordered them weakly, "I hate it when they do this. Hey! Slow down!"

Unfortunately, Joe and Mimi were just not the running type. They collapsed, momentarily from the strain of running. They had made it all the way out of the forest and were running along the beach when they fell to their stomachs, gasping for breath. Lucy wasn't much better off, but she remained standing, hunched over with her hands on her knees as she heaved for breath. She was really, really hungry and it was affecting her stamina.

Luckily, Scorpiomon apparently ran about as often as Joe and Mimi did, and collapsed not ten feet behind them, a heaving sigh escaping him, "Too many clams for lunch!"

The two parts of this chase, the three Digidestined and the evil scorpion were now in a race to see who would catch their breath first. If it was Scorpiomon, they were doomed. If it was them, they had a real chance of getting away from him.

As it would turn out, they'd end up ready to run again at the same time.

"Oh, no!" Scorpiomon whined, "Not again! Come on, come on!" he sighed to himself, "I'm not built for this."

"This way!" Lucy said, leading behind some boulders near one area of the beach.

Behind them, Scorpiomon saw this stopped running, "Aw, forget it," he then dug into the sands beneath, disappearing rapidly.

Behind the boulder, he three kids were gasping for breath, their digimon right with them. Lucy was managing to stand up perfectly straight on her own, putting her hands on her head to open her lungs up more like her gym teacher said, but Joe and Mimi were leaning almost helplessly against the rock.

"I can't... run anymore," the teen boy gasped, "We'll just have to... stand and fight."

"Right!" Gomamon nodded. He and his human partner moved to peak around the rock, to get a good positioning against the evil digimon. Instead of seeing him, milling about and waiting for them, the beach was clear and empty.

"Huh?" the seal digimon said, "We may not have to."

"What happened?" Mimi asked, coming out from behind the giant rock with Lucy. The only clue as to where the scorpion had gone was a giant hole in the ground that he dug.

"I don't know, but he's gone!" Joe exclaimed with a smile. Gomamon was laughing in relief right next to him.

"What a lucky break!" the seal said.

"Lucky for us he doesn't work out," Mimi said.

"Got that straight," Lucy added.

"I'm getting my exercise right now," Palmon said, "My roots are exhausted."

"And I am so hungry, I could just about eat sea weed," Gomamon said.

"Ditto," Skymomon said, holding her grumbling tummy.

"Hey, wait!" the seal said, moving over towards the shore, "Lookit!" Palmon moved over with him, together, they moved some sand aside and found a treasure trove of clams and sea weed.

"Ooo!" Skymomon said, looking at a bush near their hiding spot, "Look, Lucy, berries!"

"I think I'll catch some of those myself," the pink haired girl said.

Joe, Mimi, Lucy and Skymomon ate handfuls of the tie dye colored berries, while Palmon and Gomamon at sea weed and clams respectively. It wasn't a feast, by any means, but it was delicious for what they had available.

When Gomamon finished one of the clams, he tossed the shell over his shoulder, into the sea to his immediate left. This would end up bringing the trouble from before back.

You see, Scorpiomon was under the water at that point, looking for more of his favorite food. When he noticed the shell falling past his face, he grew enraged. Someone was eating his precious clams!

He surfaced, silently, just in time to have a shell bounce off his head, making him angrier.

"Get your mitts off my clams!" The monster ordered them, rearing himself up to attack.

The kids reared back and away from the sudden attack, their digimon jumping to the fore to protect them.

"Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

"Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!"

"Palmon, Digivolve to Togemon!

Scorpiomon was unimpressed with their evolutions and lifted himself up, showing how large he truly was, calling out one of his attacks, "_Scorpion Storm!_"

The three Champion digimon dodged the attack, going in opposite directions so they weren't clustered together for another attack like that, with the winged digimon going up in the air.

"Oh, yeah, how about some _Needle Spray!_" Togemon shouted, sending out the thousands of prickly darts at the scorpion. They just bounced off, though, his armor too thick.

"_Tornado Hammer!_" SkyYetimon summoned the pastel green tornado to her hands and slammed it into the front of the huge monster with all her strength. All that happened was that the evil digimon skidded back a few inches, but he was otherwise unharmed.

Ikkakumon tried his attack last, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" but, even with the explosive horns hitting Scorpiomon directly, their was still no visible damage.

"If the digimon really are getting stronger, they should be able to handle Scorpiomon, no problem," Joe said.

"I hope so, but it doesn't really look like they're doing to well," Mimi said next.

"Well, there is some serious different between Champion and Ultimate level," Lucy said, "Remember Etemon? He was able to pretty much ignore our digimon's attacks like they were, at worst, a strong wind. Maybe three Champions just aren't a match for an Ultimate, even with how strong they've grown."

As they spoke, Scorpiomon knocked Ikkakumon aside with his tail, then grabbed Togemon in his fore claws.

"Wha? Hey! Let me go!" the cactus yelled, "Put me down, you over grown craw daddy, before I get really mad!" Scorpiomon obeyed her, throwing her at SkyYetimon and Ikkakumon. The winged digimon was able to dodge, but the large, furry digimon wasn't so lucky.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked, helping them up.

"I've been better," Ikkakumon rumbled.

"Oh boy," Joe breathed in distress.

"Why don't you come out from behind your shell and fight like a clam!" Mimi shouted at the giant scorpion digimon. The digimon in questioned turned to look at her, Lucy and Joe with a glare.

"Uh, Mimi, cool it," the blue haired teen said, "I don't think he thought that was very funny.

"_Scorpion Storm!_" another blast of sandy clam breath shot out at the kids. They managed to dodge behind the boulder again, not getting hit at all.

"Right," Lucy said, "Note to self: Making puns against giant, evil digi-jerks, not a good idea."

"Hey! Squid breath!" Togemon yelled at the scorpion, getting him to turn around and face her and the other two Champion digimon, "We're the ones you want!"

"_Tail Blade!_" Scorpiomon reared up on his back legs again and lashed a pair of his fore legs through the air, sending light blue beams of energy at the three digimon.

"Whoa!" the cactus yelped as she and the other two dodged the attack. When it exploded, it just so happened to reveal a cache of clams after the smoke cleared.

"Oh!" the evil digimon crooned, picking them up one at a time and cracking them open to eat them, "I just love clams!"

"Hurry up!" Joe shouted to their digimon, "Now's your chance!"

"Get moving! Digivolve, Togemon!" Mimi yelled to her partner.

"You too, SkyYetimon!" Lucy called out.

Their Digivices glowed with the power of Digivolution, the light was then focused through their Crests, the symbols of Reliability, Sincerity and Faith being absorbed into their digimon as they evolved.

"Togemon, Digivolve to Lilymon!"

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve to Zudomon!"

"SkyYetimon, Digivolve to Wildangemon!"

"Okay, you two," Wildangemon said, taking the lead, "Let's put this creep out of our misery!"

Lilymon flew forward, Zudomon stomping forward with his hammer in hand.

"_Flower Cannon!_" the pixie fired her attack, hitting Scorpiomon right in the face with the green blast of energy, just to get his attention.

"Hey!" the evil digimon whined, "It's rude to interrupt someone's lunch, you know? _Tail Bla_-"

"_Whirlwind Combo!_" in a pastel green dervish of energy, Wildangemon interrupted the attack, knocking the evil digimon for a loop with nearly twenty rapid fire blows to the head from her spear, hand and feet.

"Aw," the arthropod whined, "come on!" He turned to run back the way he'd come from, but ran into Zudomon.

"I don't think so!" the large, sea faring digimon said, bringing his hammer to bear, "_Vulcan's Hammer!_" The blunt side of the weapon smashed into Scorpiomon's head with a good amount of force, this time, knocking him out.

"Whoa," he moaned, "good night..."

+-9

In the hut, still covered in sand, Tai was just barely beginning to wake up. His eyes struggled to blink open. He didn't have any trouble remembering what happened, knowing exactly how it was they had all come to be laying on the ground, covered in sand.

"Kari," he breathed, struggling to put a hand on her shoulder.

Behind him, Gatomon and Agumon were also struggling to achieve and maintain consciousness.

Just outside the hut, Metalseadramon loomed over the structure, a glare in his red eyes as he roared out, "Where is that fool with those other children? I'm tired of waiting!"

+-9

Riding atop Zudomon, Lucy, Mimi and Joe were heading back towards the hut to save their friends. Lilymon and Wildangemon were flying along, just ahead.

"Hurry! Faster!" Joe urged his partner, "We gotta move, now!" Then he looked back and said, "Did you really have to bring along a souvenir?"

In Zudomon's grip, being dragged along behind them on his back, was Scorpiomon. He didn't answer Joe, just continuing to drag the evil digimon along behind him.

+-9

"That does it!" Metalseadramon growled, "I'll worry about the other three children later!" he tilted his head upwards and focused his energy, then started breathing a stream of fire.

Unseen behind the hut, the three missing Digidestined and their digimon had crouched down.

"Yuck!" Mimi exclaimed, her voice being blocked from the metal serpents ears by the roar of the flames, "And I thought Scorpiomon's breath was gnarly! He'll roast 'em like marshmallows!"

"This way, hurry!" Lilymon said, floating in through a hole in the back of the hut.

"Hey, everybody, wake up!" Joe called as he ran in, followed by Lucy, Mimi and the digimon, "Nap time's over!"

"Tai, you've gotta get out of here!" Lilymon said to the boy, helping him to sit up.

"Sora, come on!" Mimi said, helping the red headed girl and her digimon to get their bearings.

"Matt, Izzy! Move!" Joe cried, "Or you're gonna be toast! I mean literally.

"I'll get the youngest out," Wildangemon said, gently picking up TK and Kari.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Lucy urged everyone and their digimon, "We don't have much time!"

"Everybody, on your feet, hurry!" the pixie began to wake up more of the digimon

Even as she spoke, Metalseadramon started to breathe the fire onto the shack, easily setting it ablaze.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Tentomon asked, buzzing up off the ground.

"Keep moving!" Tai said, "We're almost out!"

While the kids were waking up, and beginning to panic, Zudomon tossed the knocked out form of Scorpiomon into the flames, then followed them out of the hut. That should serve as a suitable distraction for them to get away.

"Ha!" Metalseadramon laughed triumphantly, "Farewell, Digidestined! It was a rare pleasure, knowing you! _Medium _rare!" He laughed even more at his bad pun.

"Waaah! Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Well, he laughed until he heard the screams of his own minion in the flames, where he was supposed to hear the darn kids that were ruining things for him and the other Dark Masters.

"Huh?" he looked back at the hut in time to see his pathetic minion burst out of the front of the shack.

"Okay, who's the hot tempered foul mouth who-" Scorpiomon stopped speaking for a moment when he saw the armored sea dragon before him, but kept hopping along towards the sea to put out the flames, "Oh, it's you, boss! No problem!" He bounced into the water, cooing gratefully at the cool relief it provided, even as some of it hissed into steam.

"Eh?" Metalseadramon turned back to the ashes of the hut, and instead of seeing the burnt out husks of the Digidestined, all he saw was the ash from the shack, "No, no!" He roared, "They're gone! All of them, gone!" He turned his enraged gaze back to his minion, "Scorpiomon! How did this happen?!"

"Uh, well, you see," the monster stuttered in his fear, "That's a fair question. You see, it happened-"

"Silence!" he grabbed his subordinate with his tail and began to lift high into the sky, "You failed me and I will not forgive failure!"

"No, I didn't think that you wou-aaaah!" Scorpiomon was interrupted by his boss releasing him from his grip, falling far down to the ground below and being deleted by the impact.

Being so high in the sky would serve a dual purpose for the metal serpent, though. He could punish his unworthy minion, and get a birds eye view of where the children might have gone.

He didn't see any sign of them for the moment, so flew out to see, to cool his head in the waves.

He missed it as the Digidestined and their digimon stepped out of the thick canopy of the forest.

"They're gone!" Sora exclaimed, then sighed in relief, "That was a close one."

"But we came out of it okay," Tai said, "That's what counts."

Mimi, who had collapsed to be sitting on the sandy beach, said, "I hate to tell you this, everything's not okay."

"Huh?" Tai got to his feet, wondering what had happened.

"Mimi's right," Joe said, his hand on his hips.

"What are you guys talking about?" the wild haired boy asked, "Did I miss something?"

"The digimon still may not be strong enough," the blue haired teen explained, "all three of our digimon had to Digivolve again, just to beat Scorpiomon, and he was just a flunky! Frankly, it's hard to see how they stand a chance against a fully Digivolved monster like Metalseadramon."

"I hate to say it, but he's right, Tai," Lucy said, "I think our digimon are getting stronger, no doubt about it, but the curve may not be quick enough for them to get a significant edge against the Dark Masters before we have to fight them. Sorry, Tai."

"You could be right," he said, sighing as he had to let go of that theory, "Maybe Piximon meant something else when he said we were missing something," he closed his eyes in thought, "Whatever the secret is, we have to find it if we're gonna save the world."

"That's right, and the sooner the better!" Tentomon said as he took to the air, pointing out some odd happenings at sea.

The children gasped in shock and fear when they noticed the blade-horn of a familiar monster breaking through the waves.

"It's Metalseadramon again!" Tai exclaimed.

The Dark Master pulled his upper half up out of the water with maniacal laughter filling the air.

Wildangemon stepped to the fore with Lilymon right behind her, "Lilymon, you and I will draw him off! Zudomon," she turned to the large creature with the spiked turtle shell, "you get the kids to safety!"

"Right!" the two digimon said simultaneously.

Despite the fact that Wildangemon had six wings, the angel digimon did not normal fly. And when she did this time, there was an obvious reason for that.

On the ground, Wildangemon was fast. In the air, the digimon was greased lightning with a full tank of nitro.

"Hey, sea monkey! _Wild Tempest!_" the purifying whirlwind pinged off of Metalseadramon's protected hide, the monster turned to follow her, but before he could get too far, Lilymon struck next.

"_Flower Cannon!_" the green bolt of energy hit the monster on the back of the head. The pixie yelped when he turned to follow her, "Great," she grumbled, "he would be one of the quick ones."

"Oh, no ya don't!" Wildangemon called, slamming her spear into a chink in his armor, at most, annoying him. When he turned to smack into her with his tail, she was already gone. "Over here, slowpoke!" she dodged another tail lash, "Whoops, that would've almost hit me," she grinned patronizingly, "If I were a geriatric Snailmon with a hip problem!"

"Grah!" Metalseadramon roared, "Stand still you annoying pest!"

While Lilymon and Wildangemon annoyed the heck out of the Dark Master, Zudomon made off into the sunset with the Digidestined. He might have gotten away, too, if a lucky strike from Metalseadramon's tail hadn't knocked Lilymon out of the air. Wildangemon poured on the speed and was able to catch her, but the strength of the hit knocked her for a loop. The second lashing from Metalseadramon's tail was enough to force the two of them to de-Digivolve.

Thankfully, they were knocked in the direction of Zudomon, and were caught by their respective partners.

"Pathetic little fools!" the Dark Master said, "You think you can escape from me by sea?!"

"I think it's safe to say he's seen us!" Tai exclaimed then turned towards Zudomon's head, "Can you go any faster?"

"I can try," the digimon answered, putting his all into getting away.

"Ha ha! Tonight you sleep with the fishes!" the metal covered monster began to gain on them. Then, suddenly sank beneath the waves.

"Why do I doubt that's good news?" Lucy asked as she held Skymomon.

"Is he gone?" Joe asked, Zudomon coming to a halt so they didn't swim into some kind of trap.

The answer came from Mimi, "I don't think so."

"I can't stand this waiting!" Sora cried.

"I bet he's right below us," Matt said next in a whisper.

"Knock it off," Tai said to the two of them.

Silence reigned then, no one wanting to say anything and perhaps miss something.

They needn't have worried.

Metalseadramon appeared again, his horn-blade slicing through the water with a massive wave at his back.

"He's ramming us!" The wild haired boy shouted in warning.

"Hold on, everyone!" Zudomon told the others.

It would do them all no good. Metalseadramon crashed into them, knocking all the children and digimon through the air and into the sea. TK and Kari, two of the weakest swimmers began to panic for a moment before their brothers held them up.

Behind them, Zudomon was doing his best to fight of the evil Dark Master. He rammed into him, but all that happened was a narrowing of the digimon's eyes.

"_River of Power!_"

The blue stream of energy slammed into the turtle shelled digimon, knocking him through the air and back into his Rookie form. Unluckily for Joe, that's who he landed on.

Metalseadramon loomed over the children chuckling evilly, his victory inevitable now, "Never send a Rookie to do a Mega's work! Ha ha ha!"

The children found themselves looking into the jaws of defeat, and they could do nothing to save themselves now.

Chapter Thirty Eight: End

Please Enjoy.


	39. Chapter 39 Under Pressure

Chapter Thirty Nine: Under Pressure

Lucy looked up at what was assuredly her own doom and could not say she didn't feel fear. Like the rest of the kids, she really didn't want to go out by being blasted to bits by a water dragon with an ego problem. And that was why, instead of screaming and panicking, as one would normally do in this situation, she was preparing to do something that she knew would ultimately be very foolish.

Lucy liked to swim. She wasn't born to it like some, and she definitely wasn't the type that could drown in a bathtub, but she could hold her own. And she was preparing to draw the monster off so the others could extend their own lives. She knew, without a doubt, she would only be delaying the inevitable, but she had Faith, that she could at least do something to help.

"This is the end for you upstart Digidestined," Metalseadramon said as he looked down at them with the closest thing he could manage to a grin on his armored face, "In a word, you're sunk!" He laughed at his own joke before he began to focus his energy through his body.

Before Lucy could start her sacrificial charge and before Metalseadramon could even start the energy glowing in his barrel of a nose, a huge shadowy shape appeared in the sea below the children. The metal sea serpents eyes narrowed.

"Who's that?" he dipped his head a little lower, trying to get a clearer view of what or who may be there.

As the silhouette moved forward, a huge, flat tail flipped up out of the water and Tai in particular recognized that tail.

"It's Whamon!" he exclaimed.

Even as he said it, the digimon in question propelled himself out of the water like a one hundred fifty ton missile. He smashed into the front of Metalseadramon with an explosively loud clang, knocking the monster backwards through the water. If Lucy wasn't mistaken, it would almost appear that Whamon had just knocked out one of the Dark Masters.

The whale digimon turned around then and swam towards the group with his mouth open.

"Come on, everybody!" Tai yelled out, leading the swim forward, "I never thought I'd want to be fish food, but we'll be safe in here!" He said that mostly for Kari's benefit, to let her know that it would be safe.

"Technically, it's a mammal!" Izzy yelled over the sound of rushing water as they moved down the humongous digimon's throat.

With the children safely inside himself, the Whamon started moving through the water, first getting up some speed then diving beneath the waves. And he did it just in time, too. Metalseadramon resurfaced only a few seconds later, an angry glint in his red eyes. It was a certainty that he would have followed after them were it not but for a few extenuating circumstances. For one, you try being hit with a hundred fifty tons of whale moving at forty miles an hour and tell me if you see straight afterward. Two, with just a few flicks of his enormous, blue tail, Whamon was already moving incredibly quickly through the water.

The Dark Master growled angrily as he watched his prey get away, yet again, because of an untimely intervention by a digimon that had yet to realize their place in the new Digiworld.

"Grah!" the metal sea serpent growled angrily, "You escape this time, but you've escaped for the last time!" he paused for a moment then, his eyes narrowing further, "Why did Whamon stick his spout in my business and save the Digidestined?"

Below the gently churning waves, quickly moving towards Metalseadramon, was a quad of odd looking digimon. The looked like a cross between a man, a frog, and a scuba diving set. They were blue, almost entirely, except for the webbing between their toes and a white strip that came down from their heads, and covered their chests and stomachs. Also, attached to their rears, almost looking like it was sewn on, was a long grey tail that helped them move through the water. In each of their hands, they held a harpoon, and on their right feet they wore a single scuba flipper. On their backs was a large object, it's purpose being double. First, and foremost, it was a rebreather, tubes coming out of it and going into the digimons' mouths, and it filtered oxygen out of the water they were swimming through for them to breath without the need to surface. It's second purpose was easy to divine from the propeller at the very end of it. It helped propel them through the water at a good clip, adding to the control given to them by their tail.

One by one, the four creatures surface in the water behind Metalseadramon, their ugly little faces looking up at him silently.

"What are you doing here, Divermon?" Metalseadramon demanded, not feeling like being bothered by anything trivial at the moment.

"We just came up for a little air," the lead Divermon said.

Metalseadramon just sighed and grumbled to himself, "Those Divermon... If it wasn't for their Striking Fish attack, they'd be useless to me. No matter," he growled a little more as he spoke up again, "Wherever those kids try to hide, I'll find 'em. I rule this ocean with an iron hand, an iron tail and an iron everything, for that matter. I'll find them even with Whamon on their side," when he didn't hear the sound of more of his minions moving through the water like he expected, he twisted his body around to face them, a glare in his eyes, "Well, don't just sit there, treading water! I Told you to go find those kids!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" they all said at once, dipping back beneath the waves.

The Dark Master of the sea didn't hesitate to join them. It would be so much easier if he searched as well. The sooner those annoying brats were found and destroyed, the sooner they could get back to truly conquering everything, everywhere.

+-9

Miles and miles away, about an hour later, the kids had exited Whamon's mouth and were now riding on his head. They were all grinning for the moment, just glad to be able to enjoy the warm breeze that was drying out their clothing. Lucy, in particular, was laying out on Whamon's back, Skymomon resting on her stomach.

"You okay, Sky?" the pink haired girl asked, "You've taken two hard hits from the Dark Masters in one day."

"I'd feel better if we had some more berries," the monkey admitted, "but I'm good to go for now."

Lucy just brushed a hand through the fur on her digimon's back, helping her to relax.

As they continued to move through the seas, flanked by seagulls, Tai felt the urge to express his gratitude to their large friend.

"Thanks for saving us, Whamon!" he smiled at the huge digimon.

"Awe, don't mention it," he chuckled for a moment, "No, seriously, don't mention it. I don't want it to get around." They could tell by his tone, even as he said that, that he was just joking.

"Hey guys," Matt said finally, enjoying the good mood, but having to bring the others back to earth eventually, "We've still got a major problem. How are gonna defeat the Dark Masters?"

Beside him, Sora spoke up, "I wonder how they took over the digital world in the first place," she said, "Do you remember, Whamon?"

"Of course I remember Whamon," the digimon said back, sending up a spout of water behind them, "Big fella, snappy dresser," Lucy had to fight back a giggle at that, "Oh, you mean the Dark Masters. I don't know all the details, but soon after the digital world began to warp, Metalseadramon began to take over the oceans."

"Darn!" Tai yelled out as he punched down on Whamon's skull, his fist sinking into the hard, brown flesh quite a bit.

"Ow," the whale digimon said simply, almost as if he didn't really feel the pain from the hit.

"Oh, sorry, Whamon," the wild haired boy apologized.

Kari moved forward then, worried for her brother who was still leaning forward in a crouch with his eyes closed. He was obviously trying to focus his anger at the evil digimon into something constructive.

"Tai," she said, "don't get upset," she gently grabbed his arm, "We'll fix things!" she smiled at him encouragingly.

"You're right," he sighed, looking at her, then he smiled and sat up straighter, putting his arm around her, "We'll do it! We've done it before, haven't we?"

"Yeah!" the whole group said together, smiles on their faces again.

"Ha ha! That's the attitude!" Whamon said, "I'll find a safe place for you, outside of Metalseadramon's reach, even if I have to swim to the far corners of the ocean," then, if he could, Whamon would have grinned, "By the way, did I mention that I charge by the mile?"

Lucy couldn't restrain her giggling after that.

+-9

Far away, beneath the waves of Metalseadramon's domain, the evil creatures under his command scoured the depths for the darned brats that their master wanted. Honestly, none of them cared. They didn't have a single care about what happened to the Digidestined. If they won, the sea went back to the way it was and they'd still be swimming around, doing as they did. If Metalseadramon won, they'd go where he told them, destroy who he told them and come when he called, but they'd still be in the sea, so it wouldn't matter.

Currently, three of the Divermon were scouring some ruins under the waves. It wasn't likely that they'd find the Digidestined there, but there were a few caves around there that would be big enough for Whamon to hide in.

One of the Divermon saw a group of fish nearby and hid behind a rock. As soon as the school of fish came near him, he popped up, growling at them. With yelps, that were especially odd seeing as they came from fish, they scattered, and the evil minion of one of the Dark Masters laughed maliciously.

+-9

A long ways away, in an island cove that was shaped like a crescent moon, Whamon had stopped to rest, allowing the kids a chance to get some food.

While Joe and Tai fished, Matt played his harmonica. From... somewhere, Gatomon had produced a place and had it laid out in front of her. She motioned the others back and away from her so she could focus and do as she needed to.

And then she began to sing.

"Right," Lucy whispered as she took off her socks, shoes and her hoodie, "Will you hold on to these for me?" she asked Sora, who nodded silently as she watched Gatomon with her mouth open in wonder. As a last thought, Lucy placed her Digivice on the pile of clothes as well.

"What are you doing, Lucy?" Skymomon asked in a whisper.

"Going for a swim, I'll be right back," she told her partner before sliding down the side of Whamon's head, then hopped into the water.

In the little cove that they had docked in, so to speak, the water was shallow enough that the sun had warmed it up to a respectable temperature. It was such that the young girl could only smile as she opened her eyes and looked around at all the sea life.

The fish were colorful, and the light of the sun, set the ocean floor alight. It was a breath taking sight, indeed. The girl breached the surface for a moment, taking a deep breath, then headed back below, enjoying the sound of the water swishing around her, the incredible view and watched as a fish bigger than she was was picked up by Palmon's vines. That made her blink and surface.

"Hey," Lucy called up to the others, "What's going on?"

"Palmon caught dinner," TK said with a grin. Suddenly there were a lot of disgusted groans and cries. TK looked over his shoulder, then blanched and turned back to Lucy, looking a little green around the gills. "And Agumon just ate dinner."

"What are you-"

Whatever Lucy was about to say next was cut off as they heard Joe yelp and fall into the water, and then Gomamon's voice filled the air in a panicked cry.

"Hey, guys! We got trouble!" he yelled.

Lucy had pulled herself up onto Whamon's back by this point, getting there just in time to see it as Joe held up Gomamon by the end of his fishing line.

"I caught a whopper," the blue haired teen deadpanned, "Look." The digimon just blinked a couple times, wondering how he came to be wrapped in Joe's line around his waist.

Lucy walked around a bloated Agumon to look down at the little guy hanging from the end of Joe's line, "What's up?"

"Divermon are headed this way!" Gomamon yelled at the top of his lungs. Joe freaked out in response.

"Oh no!" Mimi cried out, "Not Divermon! Anything but Divermon!" she paused for a moment and looked to Gomamon, "By the way, what are Divermon?"

"Oh, those are Metalseadramon's henchmen," Whamon informed her and the rest of the group, "It seems the fish have seen them two hundred miles behind us."

"What are we gonna do?" TK asked.

"Well, we can't stay here," the whale insisted, "They'll find us easily. I'm going to dive. Quick, everyone get inside me! And don't mind the smell, I had fish for lunch," he chuckled.

The whole group made a 'Eww!' sound, but moved to do as he said. Better to be in the fish scented stomach of a friend, than be the less than lively victims of Metalseadramon.

Once they were all inside him, the whale left the crescent shaped island and the cove behind, moving off to the deep sea to submerge and hide.

+-9

Elsewhere in the wide ocean that stretched and spiraled up the mountain the dark masters had created of their individual domains, the Divermon had split up, but were using the radio function in their rebreathers to keep in contact with one another.

"Red leader to Blue leader," one said as he swam rather quickly through the sea, "Areas thirteen through eighteen are clear."

In another section of the ocean, another Divermon was swimming along the surface, keeping his eyes out for the Whamon that had carried the Digidestined away, "Gold leader to Blue leader, areas twenty three and twenty floor are clear, too."

And yet elsewhere, another Divermon was keeping pace with Metalseadramon, an effort to keep the boss informed of their progress.

"Listen, Phil, Cid," 'Blue leader' said into his Radio, "how many times to I have to tell you guys? There are just four of us. You can call me Jim."

"Will you guys knock it off?!" Metalseadramon ordered.

"Sorry," Jim apologized for his teammates.

"Do you smell something?" the Dark Master asked suddenly, "There a scent of Digidestined in the current. Either that or there's a bad patch of seaweed around here."

The Divermon just nodded. Blanching at the idea of bad seaweed.

"This is my moment to shine!" Metalseadramon said loudly, "Does my hair look alright?"

"Yeah," Jim sighed in exasperation, but resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"You Digidestined fools! You can swim, but you can't hide!" the sea serpent laughed maniacally.

+-9

Far away, and close to the ocean floor, Whamon continued to swim along, trying not to stay in one area too long. That would be sure to get them caught by the Divermon, and therefore Metalseadramon.

Inside him, ignoring the smell of fish, the children were all milling about, doing... not much. Well, that was true for most of them. Gatomon in particular was laying in Kari's lap.

Is was typing rapidly away on his laptop, wires hanging down from the roof of Whamon's stomach plugged into its ports.

Unfortunately for Gatomon, the tapping of the keys was enough to wake her up, "What's that noise?" she asked, looking over to Izzy, "I was taking a cat nap and it woke me up."

"I'll explain later," Izzy said, sounding a little annoyed to be interrupted.

"Oh, come on," Tai said, putting his arms behind his head, "You think I'm too brainless to understand?"

"Yes," Izzy replied, frowning in concentration, "But I'll tell you anyway," he tapped a few more keys then smiled, "Check it out!" He leaned back as the rest of the group moved in to see what it was.

"What did you do, Izzy?" Mimi asked.

"What a cool screen saver," Sora said, looking at the image of the ocean floor on his computer screen. It was a really nice view, moving forward, showing more and more as they sat there.

"It's not a screen savor," the tech genius said.

"What is it, then?" Mimi asked, again hoping for an answer she could understand.

"I connected to Whamon's hard drive, and rerouted all his sensory information directly to my computer," the boy said with a smile.

"Rerouted?" Patamon asked.

"In other words, what you're seeing on this scream is exactly what Whamon is seeing right now."

"Cool!" Matt said, looking more closely at the screen, "Like a submarine!"

"Oh boy!" Mimi said happily as she stood up, grabbing Palmon by her hands and beginning to spin, "I've always wanted to go on a submarine!" The poor plant digimon was lifted off the ground from the speed of the spin, but that didn't stop the pink hatted girl, she just kept laughing and spinning and laughing and spinning.

"I think she's been out to sea a little too long," Joe said, the whole group watching the spectacle.

Kari let out a small whine and held her ears in pain, bowing her head with her eyes closed.

"Yeah, I hate square dances," Gatomon said, thinking that was the problem.

"What's wrong, Kari?" Tai asked, moving over to see what was wrong.

"It's my ears," she told him, a grimace on her face, "They're starting to hurt."

"Hey, Mimi, stop," the wild haired boy called to her over the sound of her laughter, "Be quiet."

Almost immediately the girl twirled to a stop, the sudden loss of motion knocking Palmon out of her grip. The poor digimon was now so completely dizzy she didn't even bother trying to stand up yet. This would, unfortunately for her, not be the end of her troubles with Mimi's affection this day.

Mimi held her hands up to her own ears now, feeling pain in them just like Kari, "Oh, hey, you know, my ears hurt a little, too."

The others started to feel it as well, but the pain was just getting worse and worse.

"It's the pressure," Lucy said obviously having felt this before, "The water pressure is forcing the air to press against our ear drums."

"Oh, sorry," Whamon said, his voice echoing, "I dove a little too fast. I'll fix the pressure now." Even as he spoke, Palmon tried to stand, stumbling about with little swirls in her eyes. She fell back down after only a few steps. "Hold on," the whale told the children as he stopped swimming for a moment. If one were outside of him, they'd see the massive digimon floating about ten feet off the ocean floor, and they'd hear a short belch and see bubbles rising from his spout.

Back inside him, all the kids were relieved of the pain in their ears, giving sighs of relief.

"Ah, that's better," TK sighed in content to have the pain gone.

"Well, I guess that's one way to equalize the gas pressure," Izzy said with a smile.

"By the way, you're excused," Kari said, a grin on her own face, just happy to that it had stopped.

But that would not turn out to be the worst development yet.

"What's that sound?" Biyomon asked.

"It's getting louder," Palmon said, lifting herself up on her front arms. She couldn't go further yet, still dizzy, and even a little blue in the face.

The sound was a constant, low beeping. It was accompanied by the noise of what sounded like a boat engine cutting through the water.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Izzy suddenly ordered, looking at his computer screen. The kids and digimon immediately went silent. The sound continued, getting stronger for a moment, then slightly fading.

"Sounds like Divermon," Tentomon quailed.

The sounds got fainter and fainter until it had all but disappeared.

Finally the group was able to let out a breath of relief and Gomamon said, "Sounds like they passed us."

"We're not out of danger yet," Whamon whispered, "You'll have to be quiet a little longer."

The Digidestined and their digimon did as told, retaining their silence.

But it would be nothing they ended up doing that would get the attention of the Divermon. It was the bubbles.

The bubbles from Whamon's belch were heard by the Divermon that had swam by over head. He looked back behind him, with a furrowed brow, then followed the line of bubbles back down towards the sea floor. For a moment, his vision was obscured, but as he focused, his view cleared and he was able to see Whamon resting right there.

"Over there! Hey, its Whamon!" He turned around and began swimming as fast as his tail and propeller would allow him, right at the whale digimon.

Inside the large digimon, the kids heard the sound of the Divermon approaching rapidly and realized the jig was up. Mimi cried out in fear, knowing a hopeless situation when she was in one.

"Oh no!" Tai exclaimed, "They found us!"

"Red leader this is, uh, ah, I mean, this is Phil," the Divermon said as he quickly approached the whale, "I found Whamon! He's in area fifty one, on the ocean floor!"

At the other end of the radio, Cid was grinning as he said, "Great, keep an eye on him. I'll tell the boss and he can tell Metalseadramon."

Further away, Jim, the leader of the Divermon, spoke to the sea dragon in question, "Good news! We found Whamon!"

Metalseadramon breached the surface, roaring in triumph before diving back down. If one didn't know better, that roar would sound suspiciously like 'Yay!'

"What do we do now, oh master of the ocean?" Jim asked.

"Attack!" the metal sea dragon yelled to the sky.

Back in the immediate vicinity of Whamon and the Digidestined, Phil was preparing his attack, pulling his harpoon back then launching it forward with all the strength in his body, "_Striking Fish!_"

"Look out!" Izzy cried out to their large friend.

"The Divermon are attacking," Whamon told them, "Hang on, everyone, I've got an idea!" he flipped his powerful tail, dodging the first strike, and swimming forward into a cloud of bubbles he'd made.

Phil the Divermon, pulled out more harpoons and tossed them into the cloud, trying to hit the whale.

"Where'd those bubbles come from?" he wondered to himself as he kept throwing his attacks.

Inside the whale digimon, the children were screaming out their fear for their lives.

Back outside the cloud of bubbles, the harpoons floated to the bottom of the ocean.

"Gee," the Divermon said, "I couldn't see where I was aiming," he heard the sound of someone approaching him through the ocean and looked back to see three more of his species moving towards him, "Uh oh."

Back inside Whamon, the children were holding onto one another in their fright.

"You're squeezing me too hard," Patamon said to his partner.

The eight year old boy looked up to his brother, "Matt, you're squeezing _me_ too hard."

"Sorry," Matt told him, "I guess we're all a little scared."

"Gah!" Tai slammed his fist into his palm, "I hate this! We're stuck in here and can't fight!"

"According to the audio sensors, there are three more, behind us," Izzy informed everyone as he typed on his computer again.

"When it rains, it pours," Lucy said, holding onto Skymomon with one arm and Sora with the other.

"What is it, Whamon?" the red head asked, wondering if he knew what those extra three blips on the radar were.

"It's the enemy!" the digimon told them, all hints of humor gone from his tone while the children gasped, realizing the odds were beginning to stack heavily against them.

"Don't let them get away," the lead Divermon, Jim, ordered the others. They began to close in on the giant digimon.

"Oh! They're gaining on us!" Tentomon cried out.

"That's it!" Tai said, looking upwards, "I'm tired of running! Come on, Whamon, let's go up to the surface and fight!"

"Right!" Matt agreed.

"Well?" The wild haired boy said expectantly as he stood up, his fists clenched for the fight to come.

"Let me try one more thing," he told the kids, "Hopefully it'll work."

"What do you mean 'hopefully it'll work'?" Palmon asked as she crawled forward.

"That's what the captain of the Titanic said," Mimi quailed, "And what if it doesn't work? What's Plan B?" She pulled Palmon into her arms, hugging her more tightly than was strictly necessary.

"I still think we should turn and fight!" Tai insisted, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Whamon."

Even as they spoke, more harpoons sliced through the water, ready to impale the giant digimon they were tracking through the ocean. But their target was slippery. He'd slipped around some rock formations in the sea and the harpoons struck those instead.

Continuing his route took Whamon over a humongous crack in the bottom of the sea. He started a steep dive, going into the darkness of the depths below.

"What's he trying to do?" one of the Divermon asked as they saw this.

"Whamon must be crazy, trying to escape in such a narrow space," another added.

"Stay with him, no matter what!" Jim ordered as they, too, took a sharp down turn, diving right after the whale.

Whamon let out a roar of effort as he poured on as much speed as he could to get away from the evil digimon tracking them, but it wasn't enough. The Divermon had caught up to them and were keeping pace rather easily now, even as they continued to go down.

"You, in the big whale, pull over!" Jim ordered them while Phil, Cid and Fred, flanking the digimon.

"It's no use," Fred told them, "We've got you trapped."

"Oh no!" Joe yelled, clenching his eyes shut tight, "They'll catch us!"

Another Divermon moved over Whamon's head and stabbed his harpoon into the thick brown skin there, keeping a tight hold of the handle so he was shaken off.

"Nooooooo!" Mimi and Palmon cried together as this happened, their fear increasing more than ever.

Deeper and deeper they went, farther and farther, the light began to fail, they were so deep.

And then, one of the Divermon suffered a critical failure in their rebreather. The one with the harpoon stuck in Whamon's head almost felt it when the extreme pressure of the depth crushed his rebreather-propeller hybrid. He was forced to let go and swim towards the surface or drown. The other Divermon saw this happen, halting their downward movement and swimming back up quickly before it happened to them as well.

"That's gotta hurt," Jim said, looked at his fellow as he rushed towards the surface.

This did have the fortunate effect of letting Whamon, and therefore the Digidestined, get away from them.

With their lives no longer in danger, Izzy went back to his computer with a little less urgency. He was easily able to decipher what had happened to the creature.

"Prodigious!" he exclaimed with a smile, "They can't take the water pressure, that was Whamon's plan all along!"

This got cheers and relieved, nervous laughter from the children.

"Whamon's built to withstand pressure," Gomamon said, subtly cutting his eyes towards Joe as he added, "Unlike some of us."

"Well, forgive me for not being a whale," the boy said, but he was grinning and the whole group chuckled at that.

"Boy, that was close," Tai said as he sat down next to his little sister.

"I didn't know you had this kind of hidden attack," Gatomon said to the whale.

"This is great," Kari said, her smile slipping, "but what do we do now?"

"Yeah, we can't stay at the bottom of the ocean forever," Sora nodded.

"Got it," Izzy said, standing up rather suddenly, "Kari, come over here for a moment."

The girl came to him as he asked and he began whispering in her ear. The girl blinked in confusion a little at first, then a smile crossed her face.

"Right," she nodded to him and moved a little ways away from the rest of the group. She stood before them with a smile on her face. She held her hands together in front of her waist, bowed and said, "Ta-dah!" she then grabbed her whistle from around her neck, took a deep breath, held it for a second, then took in even more before putting her lips to the whistle and blowing into it with every ounce of oxygen she had.

The high pitched tone was so loud it almost hurt the children and digimons' ears, and it just went on and on and on. It kind of made Joe flash back to Lucy, when she'd seen Skullgreymon. She'd just screamed and screamed and screamed. It seemed like she'd never stop. It was why her voice was raspy now. He hoped that Kari wasn't planning on blowing on that whistle until she passed out.

The whistle went on for nearly twenty seconds before it stopped and Kari let the device fall from her lips as she took deep gasps of air. The other kids could only stare in confusion, wondering what that was supposed to do, if anything at all. As far as they knew, Izzy had just asked her to do that to take their attention away from him while he performed a magic trick.

Then, a pinging started up on Izzy's lap top, showing him the route ahead before it even came into Whamon's view.

"Yeah! We did it, Kari!" Izzy said brightly. The girl in question was still gasping for breath. "Thanks for the help!"

"Sure," the girl nodded, finally steadying her breathing.

"Great!" Lucy said, wiggling a pink finger in her ear to make the ringing stop, "But what did you do, exactly?"

"I created a program on my computer that will act like sonar," the tech genius explained, "I needed a high pitched, loud sound to use it. You see, the harmonics from that whistle will bounced off the walls of the canyon around us, coming back to us and, more importantly, my computer. It will read the returning vibrations to determine what the area looks like. It's like a bat. Using that, I've discovered there is a tunnel up ahead we can use to get to the surface, undetected."

"Alright!"

"Cool!"

"Good going!"

The general consensus from the group was 'Good Job'.

"Isn't that great, Whamon?" Tai asked with a wide grin.

"What?" the whale asked, sounding a little out of sorts.

"I said, isn't that great?!" the boy said it louder than before.

"I can't hear you," Whamon called back, "Someone was whistling in my ear. But there's a tunnel ahead and it leads to land!"

+-9

Far above, swimming like a snake through a stream, Metalseadramon was talking to himself, again.

"Those fools think I don't know where they're going," he almost laughed, "They're easier to figure out than a two piece jigsaw puzzle! Enjoy playing submarine while you can!" He started swimming downwards, faster than any Divermon was capable of.

+-9

"Wow! Pretty!" Lucy, Mimi, Kari and Sora said as they stared at Izzy's computer screen in wonder. A mass of glowing orbs had appeared in the water, lighting it up beautifully.

"And people wonder why I think the sea is such a beautiful place," Lucy breathed, almost wanting to reach out and touch the little dots of light.

"Aha!" Izzy said, after turning the screen back to face him again.

"A tunnel?" Matt said, looking at a dark hole in the rock before them.

"Yeah!" Mimi shouted happily.

"Yay! We're saved!" Palmon said, standing away from the group with a smile on her green face.

"I've got to get changed," the pink hat wearing girl said, then turned to her digimon, holding out her arms, "Hug!"

Palmon stared up at her partner in almost fear, remembering the last time the girl had been so happy. She had spun so much that, even had they surfaced, like Tai had wanted, she'd have been too dizzy to do anything more useful than fall on the enemy. She just kept staring up at the girl, thinking about the risks of hugging her and whether or not they were worth it. It was actually turning into a rather awkward couple of seconds.

Just as she began to take a step back, Whamon was suddenly rocked about, nearly knocking the two, digimon and human, off their feet.

"Not again!" Tai shouted, standing back up.

"How did those fish heads come back?" Gatomon wanted to know as Kari held on to her.

"They're not," Whamon told them, "Be careful everyone, it's Metalseadramon!"

The whole group quailed in fear. They didn't know how tough Whamon was, but they were sure that Metalseadramon was tougher.

The whale digimon swam for his life and the lives of those inside him. Luckily, the cave opening was only a little way ahead of him, he made the sharp turn into it and began to ascend rapidly. The sea serpent was right behind him though, a growl in his throat as he kept moving forward.

The cave kept getting narrower and narrower until it came to the point that Whamon was having to crush his way through the rock and pray that it didn't cause a cave in. Behind him, Metalseadramon was having to do the same, but his metal armor was giving him an edge.

Luckily, before the Dark Master caught up to him, Whamon broke into a much larger chamber of the cave and the surface was visible from his current position, he swam for it, flicking his tail so hard and fast that, when he surfaced, he actually pushed his full body into the air quite some distance before he fell back down.

Once they were once again standing on Whamon's head, instead of in his stomach, Tai turned to the group, "Is everyone okay?"

"Where," Izzy began, looking around at the landscape they could see, "Where are we?"

It was quite the panoramic view. They were in the wide mouth of a river that led out to sea, a bridge crossing the river before them and hills and forests to either end of the bridge.

Once the breeze began to blow no one really cared about where they were anymore. The just stood there, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the scent of the wind.

"The sun's so bright," Tai said, holding his sister to him, the both of them smiling widely.

"Smell that," Mimi said, her had off as the wind tousled her hair, "Fresh air."

"I feel I've been underwater so long, I might never take a bath again," Matt said with a smile.

This absurd comment got the others laughing as well. Even Joe, worry wart that he was, couldn't bring them down right then.

"You mind telling me, what's so funny?!"

Metalseadramon could though, and he did as he surfaced on the other side of the bridge from them.

"It's Metalseadramon!" Matt exclaimed needlessly.

"How can it be?" Sora cried, wondering how he could have found them after they lost him in the cave.

"It was only a matter of time before you came up for air," the evil digimon said almost nicely, then started roaring at them again, "Now you're going down with the ship!"

"Everyone," Whamon said suddenly, "Hold on!" he began swimming in a circle, faster and faster until his sheer mass began to make large waves through the water, "_Tidal Wave!_"

At first, the attack seemed useless, the waves being stopped from hitting the Mega digimon by the pillars in the bridge, then Lucy noticed the harsh waves washing away one of the Divermon that had apparently sneaked up on them.

"Should I?" Agumon asked, turning to Tai.

"Sure," the boy nodded with a smile, "Go for it!" then he turned to the others, "While Agumon get's their attention, let's cross to the shore and prepare ourselves for battle!"

"Aye, aye," Matt agreed.

"Uh, Gomamon and I will stay here and bring up the rear," Joe said.

Sora frowned as she turned to the blue haired teen, "Joe, don't be such a coward!" she scolded.

Tai held his Digivice forward, trying to focus on the connection the two of them had through it, "Agumon!"

"Here I go!" he little yellow dinosaur said as he was struck by the bright orange light from the device, "Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!"

The first thing he did upon Digivolving was fly forward at Metalseadramon, slashing him across the jaw, just to get his attention.

With no damage done to him, Metalseadramon glared at the other Mega and growled out, "What was that? A love tap? I'm made of Chrome Digizoid, too, ya know? You can't destroy me that easily!"

While that was going on, almost all the other digimon, aside from Gatomon, Patamon and Palmon had Digivolved, taking their partners to the shore as quickly as possible.

From atop Kabuterimon's head, with Kari and Izzy, Tai called down to their large friend, "Whamon, thanks for everything, but you can leave the rest to us!"

"What? No tip?" the digimon chuckled.

"Hurry and get out of here!" Matt ignored the joke, "You're an easy target! You're just too big!"

"Are you calling me fat?" he chuckled some more, "I'm just big boned!" Despite that, the whale digimon did dive back beneath the surface to avoid any attacks for the moment.

"_Striking Fish!_" One of the Divermon yelled, getting ready to throw his harpoon at Whamon, but Ikkakumon was having none of that.

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_" he roared, sending dozens of the rockets into the air where they then crashed back towards the ground.

He succeeded in attracting their attention, nearly a hundred harpoons were thrown at him in quick succession, Joe dancing around wildly to avoid being speared with one.

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve!" he ordered, hoping that would be enough to take care of business. His Digivice started going off.

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve to Zudomon!" he didn't waste a second, he hefted his weapon over his head, charged it with the all the electric energy he could, and slammed it down into the water, "_Vulcan's Hammer!_" he roared. The electricity sparked for a couple seconds then caused an explosion in the water effectively dealing with the aquatic digimon that had been chasing him and his friends down.

Across the other side of the bridge, the fight between Wargreymon and Metalseadramon was picking up, the blue glow gathering in his barrel of a snout.

"_River of Power!_" He fired the blast at the digimon of those blasted human children, but he was too quick and the blue-white stream of energy ended up destroying some of the land around them.

"_Terra Force!_" Wargreymon roared as he zoomed towards the sea serpent digimon. He didn't expect the monster to suddenly appear in his path, with his mouth gaping open.

"Got you!" the metal sea dragon, snapped his jaws around the evolution of Agumon, and dived beneat the waves.

"Wargreymon!" Tai exclaimed in fear.

"He's in trouble!" Izzy said, "Wargreymon's at a huge disadvantage in the water!"

Even as he said it, the Mega level of Agumon was struggling with all his might to keep Metalseadramon from crushing him in his mouth. But the water almost seemed like it was sapping his strength. Luckily, he had some friends top side.

"_Vulcan's Hammer!_"

Another electric blast rocketed through the water. It wasn't enough to hurt the two Megas, but it was uncomfortable enough to cause Metalseadramon to surface, his mouth still trying to crush Wargreymon.

"Wargreymon!" Kari yelled out her fear for her brother's partner.

"I can't watch!" Tai cried, clenching his eyes shut.

"SkyYetimon, can you Digivolve again and help him?" Lucy asked her partner once everyone was on the beach.

"I've been trying, I just don't have the energy," the winged digimon said, glaring up at the battle feeling useless.

"I'm tired of playing around with you, Wargreymon," Metalseadramon told the digimon in his mouth, exerting more pressure than ever, "Say goodbye!"

The Mega level digimon struggled as hard as he could, but nothing was working, he couldn't get the serpent's mouth to open even another inch. This looked like the end for him.

Chapter Thirty Nine: End.

Please Enjoy.


	40. Chapter 40 Playing Games

First off, I would like to apologize for the low amount of chapters this last week. I was not feeling at all well and took those days off to get better. Being sick on a keyboard is not as productive as one might think.

Two, when I get to the end of the first season, there will be a one week break before I start writing the second season. This will be to represent the time skip of four years between Digimon 01 and 02.

And three, this first part of the story, I told you very honestly, was not going to be changed much. A few scenes here and there to make room for Lucy, certainly, but not much else. 02 will be very much changed. At first it will closely resemble Season two, and some of the major arcs will indeed be recognizable from the show, but it will be quite different in small detail content.

Now, without further stalling, the next chapter.

Chapter Forty: Playing Games

Metalseadramon dived into the water again, still trying to crush Wargreymon. The annoying little punk had the impudence to not give up, even when he was in the Dark Master's mouth. But he'd be destroyed, and then he'd go after the brats.

"I'm tired of playing around with you, Wargreymon," Metalseadramon growled as they moved through the water, "Say goodbye!"

Then, before he could even try to exert enough force to crush the much smaller Mega, once and for all, one hundred fifty tons of whale smashed into him again, almost completely knocking the metal serpent out of the water. Another consequence of this impact was that Wargreymon was sent flying from his mouth.

Metalseadramon's roar of pain was matched only by his roar of anger as he turned to face the perpetrator, "_River of Power!_" The bright beam of pure, destructive energy cut through the air. Whamon was in the middle of a dive when the beam shot through his head, slicing through him like a hot knife through butter.

"Whamon!" Tai cried.

Wargreymon was not idle. Once he was free of Metalseadramon's mouth, he flew higher into the air to gain some space before he tried his next attack. He did not want to be caught in the monster's jaws again. He began to spin rapidly, spinning so fast, in fact, that he became a blur.

"_Nova Force!_" with his bladed weapons at the head, he dove at the Dark Master, still in his lethal spin.

"_River of Power!_" Metalseadramon noticed the attack to come, and fired off his own, relying on his own power to stop the attack from hitting him.

It was unfortunate, for him, that he wasn't as powerful as Piedmon.

Wargreymon's spinning attack clashed head on with the destructive power of the serpents. Wargreymon won. He shredded through the wide beam of energy, all the way to the source. From the wide barrel in his snout, the smaller Mega drilled into his body, causing explosions all along the serpent's body until he drilled out of it about half way.

As Wargreymon rose into the air, Metalseadramon sank into the sea, only one or two of his coils remaining above the wide river mouth.

"So much for your impenetrable chrome digizoid armor," the armored digimon spoke, "Looks to me like you got a little rusty!"

"Next time you decide you want to rule the waters, do everyone a favor and take a bubble bath in stead," Kabuterimon chipped in.

"We won!" Tai exclaimed.

Wargreymon was unable to maintain his current form, the fight had taken it's tole on him, and the final attack he delivered used up what little stores he had left. He glowed with a yellow light, shrinking into the form of Koromon, swirls in his eyes.

On the ground, after the battle was over, the kids all gathered before Whamon.

"Digidestined," he breathed, even as his data began to fracture and disintegrate, "Please, save this world."

The kids began to cry out against him going, begging him to stay. But it was no use, Metalseadramon's attack was too powerful. The stream of broken data that all that was left of the friendly digimon floated off into the sky.

"Whamon," TK said softly, tears starting to gather in his eyes, "Where did he go?"

Izzy looked away from the data stream, trying to force down his sadness, and noticed Whamon wasn't alone in his disappearance, "Look there, everyone!" he pointed over towards the serpent they had been fighting less than a minute ago.

"It's happening to Metalseadramon, too," Matt said, watching as the dark master broke apart, just like Whamon.

"They're floating in the sky," Sora pointed out, watching the path the data took.

"I know where they're going," Gomamon said.

"Spiral Mountain's peak!" Tentomon said.

And then the world began to shake. Lucy yelped and clutched onto the nearest person she could.

"Yowch!" Tai yelped when her fingernails began to dig into his arm.

"Sorry," the girl said, her eyes clenched tightly shut, then she began her usual mantra, "Pleasestopshaking,pleasestopshaking,pleasestopsha king!" She wasn't the only one to be startled by the shaking ground, but she was certainly the most affected.

"Wait, look!" Tai used his free arm to point up towards the twisted up world, "That's the real reason for all the shaking! Over there!"

The kids all looked up at the mountain, even Lucy cracked one eye open, watching as the seas that had been wrapped up around it began to drain away, moving back into the world as it should be.

"The ocean!" Sora exclaimed.

"It's, uh," Joe paused, trying to find the right word, "disappearing!"

Even in the human world, the sight of the Digiworld's ocean draining off the mountain was visible, though much quicker, and it brought hope to the parents of the Digidestined children.

+-9

From the observatory, Piedmon, Machinedramon and Puppetmon watched the odd sighed. With this, they knew that Metalseadramon had fallen, failing to destroy the Digidestined as he'd promised to do.

"Well," Piedmon began after a few moments of watching the ocean drain on the screen in front of them, "you don't see that every day."

Puppetmon then hopped down from the bench he and the clown digimon had been sharing.

"Tag, not it!" he said with a grin, "Metalseadramon, out! Puppetmon, in!" he smirked wickedly.

+-9

Even knowing the reason for the quaking earth wasn't enough to get Lucy to relinquish her grip on Tai's arm. The poor boy almost thought he was going to lose circulation to his arm if her grip got any tighter.

"Look!" TK announced, "Spiral Mountain's ocean is almost gone!"

"But why?" Kari asked, unable to understand why such a thing was happening even as they watched it.

"The digital ocean is being reconfigured because we kicked its Dark Master's butt!" Gomamon explained with a grin on his face.

"Very Interesting, but does this affect us?" Izzy asked. Even as he said this, the shaking of the ground slowed then stopped. Lucy finally let go of Tai's arm, a slight blush on her face from being so scared of something like that.

"Absolutely, it changes everything!" Tai said, flexing his arm to get the feeling back into it, "If we're gonna get any surfing in, we better hurry!"

Joe grinned and held his fists before him as he said, "Those wimpy Dark Masters are no threat to Super Joe!" Lucy couldn't help but giggle at the image that put in her head, but she did smile at the courage the blue haired teen was beginning to show.

"That's the digi-tude I like to hear from you humans!" Gatomon said, pointing up at Joe with one paw.

"Alright!" Tai held up one fist, "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Gatomon, Joe, Biyomon and Skymomon said, the rest, with a few notable exceptions, smiling in agreement.

"Wait!" Mimi said from behind them. They turned around to see her and Palmon making four piles of sand and sticking improvised crosses in them, "We're not done yet," she said softly.

"Mimi, what are you doing?" the wild haired boy asked as Koromon jumped into his arms.

"In case you haven't noticed, some of our friends are gone," Matt scolded the boy.

"Oh, sorry," Tai said, lowering his head a little.

Mimi settled the cross in the center of the foremost mound of sand, then pointed to the one furthest back, "That one is to remember Wizardmon," Kari and Gatomon bowed their heads as they thought of the cats best friend, "The one next to it is to remember Piximon," she pointed to the one right in front of the farthest, then over to the one on the right, "That one's Chuumon," she closed her eyes and placed both hand on the mound right in front of her, "And this one is for Whamon."

Sora walked forward, speaking softly to the girl, "Mimi, they're not dead. It's more like they've been downloaded to another computer."

"That's right," Gatomon said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself, "We're digital. Our information just gets reconfigured."

"What better reason do we need for getting the Dark Masters?" Tai said suddenly, holding up his left fist as he looked at the make shift graves, "Payback, for making our friends leave!"

"I'm not going," Mimi said suddenly, not even turning to face the boy.

"Huh?" his fist dropped, "What are you saying?"

"I have had enough!" the girl said, her eyes beginning to water, "Every time we fight, we end up losing one of our friends!"

"This is war, Mimi, and sometimes people we like get hurt! Deal with it!" Tai said rather coldly. He didn't even notice it as some of the other childrens' eyes widened in shock.

"Stop it, Tai!" Mimi shouted, covering her ears so she wouldn't hear it any more.

"Enough!" Matt said, glaring at their wild haired leader, "Why don't you stop and think about other people's feelings for a change!"

"Huh?" the boy blinked in confusion as he looked at the blonde, "What are you talking about?"

"We all know you're right, Tai, but just give us a little space!" Matt told him.

"Huh?" Tai was now really confused. How in the world did that make any sense? He was right, but give them space? Was he saying that Tai was right, they needed to fight, but they just didn't want to right then?

"We miss our friends who found along side us!" the blonde continued, "Not everyone has ice running through their veins, like you do!" he was having to really struggle not to curl his hands before him into fists.

"What?" Tai almost flinched at that accusation.

"Calm down!" TK walked over to his brother, trying to get through to the angry boy, but it was useless. The tirade continued.

"You're so busy looking forward that you never take time to look back!" he paused for a moment and actually tried to calm down, "We've lost some good friends here, Tai, and it's nice to remember them once in a while."

"If we always stop to do that, we'll never have enough time to save the world!" Tai frowned as he spoke now.

"You still don't get it! I know you hear me, but you're not listening!" Matt ground his teeth for a moment as he prepared his next salvo.

Tai showed, perhaps, the most restrain the group had ever seen before as he basically just stood their and took that verbal abuse as it was heaped on.

When Mimi began to cry, Sora stepped into the fight, "Knock it off, you're getting everyone upset! You two are supposed to be friends!"

"Don't cry, Mimi," Palmon said, wrapping her arms around the girl.

"We're sitting ducks out here," Joe said, "Let's find some place a little less out in the open?"

Matt glared at Tai for a moment more before whirling around on his heel and stalking off into the forest. The others eventually moved to follow him, but Sora, Lucy and Mimi stayed behind, the last girl not moving from her spot.

"Come on, Mimi," Sora said, a hand on the girl's shoulder, "We have to go."

"I already told you," Mimi sniffed as she wiped her tears away, "I'm not going."

"Mimi," Sora sighed sadly.

"Mimi, you have to stand up," Lucy said from her other side.

"No, I wont! I wont fight anymore!"

"You don't have to fight," the pink haired girl said softly, the older girl looking up at her questioningly. Lucy felt stumped. What does a ten year old say to a twelve year old to get them to see that they have to keep moving forward? She didn't know, so she was gonna have to wing it. "We need to walk, Mimi. We have to go forward."

"But, what about our friends?" Mimi asked, looking to the graves she'd made for the friends they'd lost along the way.

Lucy heaved a deep sigh as she kneeled next to Mimi in the sand. She placed a hand on the mound that represented Whamon. She understood what Mimi said about their friends always getting hurt when they fought, but Lucy honestly didn't see any other way to save the world.

"We remember them," Sora said suddenly, "We never forget about them. We keep moving forward, all of us, and we help each other remember all that we've lost and all that we've gained," the red head had an encouraging smile on her face.

"Right," Lucy nodded to her, "You need to keep walking, to keep moving forward. You don't have to fight, and you don't have to forget about them. We're not leaving Whamon, or the others, behind. We can keep going _because _of them."

Mimi looked to the graves, listening to what the two other girls had to say and contemplated what she should be doing. She terribly missed the friends they had gained and lost in this world, but could she really leave it at that?

Next to her, the pink haired girl stood up and held out one hand to the brown haired girl.

She looked up at the hand that was offered to her for a few seconds. Another pertinent question she had to ask was, was she strong enough to go on?

She reached out and took the younger girl's hand. The answer was yes. She may not have had the strength to go on by herself- heck, she would never have gotten off File Island if she was on her own- but her friends always had been there for her in the past, so she could rely on them now.

"Let's catch up with the others."

+-9

The kids had been walking through the forest for a while now, Mimi and Lucy keeping their hands interlocked, the pink hatted girl drawing strength from the younger girl for now.

Joe was at the head of the group as they kept walking. He didn't really have any particular direction in mind for where they should be going, he just knew they couldn't stay in one place too long without asking for another attack.

At the back of the group, Tai was musing over what Matt had told him on the beach, '_I'm not as cold as Matt thinks, am I?_'

'_Maybe I was a little too rough on Tai, but he's gotta respect our feelings!_' the blonde in question was walking along near the front of their formation with his teeth gritted angrily and his hands in his pockets.

Next to him, TK was looking up at his older brother, a little bit of worry in his crystal blue eyes, '_I've never seen Matt so upset before._'

Izzy was contemplating the outlook of their current fight right now, '_This is terrible. We should be concentrating on fighting the enemy, not each other._'

'_I just know they're all thinking about me,_' Joe thought, a grimace on his face, '_That's why no one's talking._'

'_Everyone's so tired and cranky,_' Sora thought silently with a sad look on her face.

Beside Mimi, Lucy could feel the tension between Matt and Tai, even from where she was, '_Matt and Tai... This isn't over __for them__, I know it. One or the other is gonna say or do something, and the fight's gonna be on between the two of them._'

Next to her brother, Kari asked, "Are you okay?"

The boy was too deep in his thoughts, Matt's words echoing in his mind again and again, whirling and twirling through his mind, bubbling over and over.

As such, he didn't hear her question, or notice it when her ears perked up at something and she stopped walking.

The little girl was looking up at the trees, her eyes scanning the forest for... anything that could have made that sound.

Gatomon noticed almost immediately and ran back to the girl, "Why'd you stop, Kari?"

"Did you hear a noise, just now?" she looked at the cat digimon.

"What kind of noise?" her partner asked.

"You mean you didn't hear someone speaking a second ago?" the girl asked, holding up a finger for emphasis.

"You mean a voice?" Gatomon put one paw to her chin, thinking about it, "No, I didn't hear anything, at all."

Kari mimicked the pose, "Weird."

"Come on, let's get back to the others," the cat said, gesturing to the group, "There's safety in numbers." The girl nodded and the two of them ran forward.

By the time they got there, everyone had realized she was missing.

"Where were you two?" Tai asked, his tone scolding.

"I thought I heard something, but it was just my imagination," Kari explained to the boy.

"It's dangerous around here," the wild haired boy said to her, sounding less angry with her, "Stay with the group."

None of them knew, or could have known, that they were being watched by one of the Dark Masters.

Puppetmon stood before a small TV, looking at the group with a frown on his wooden face.

"These kids take any longer to get here, I will develop wood rot!" he complained in his childlike voice.

"Have patience. Rome wasn't built in a day," One of his minions said, behind him. It was a a bird like digimon with a white skull plate covering the top of his head, a long needle-like beak, brown feathers and long legs that ended in red claws. He was lacking wings, however.

"Yeah, but I was! And I'm tired of waiting!" Puppetmon picked up a TV remote that had, instead of numbers, colored shapes on it. He pressed the red circle button.

Back in the forest, the kids were walking along again. This time, Tai made sure that Kari was in front of him so he would notice if she broke off from the main group again. As they were walking along, they noticed that, suddenly, the trees to either side of the path they'd been taking were moving, rather rapidly, in the other direction, back towards the beach.

"Huh?" Tai said, stopping his trek, and watching the trees on either side of the path, "What's this?"

"Why are the trees running so fast?" Kari asked.

The other kids and digimon weren't unaware of the situation either.

"What is going on?!" Joe asked in a panic.

Izzy looked to the side, noticing that, not only were the trees moving, the ground itself was, too. But, that didn't make any sense, unless...

"Things aren't moving faster, we are!" He shouted above the screams of the others, "The ground we're standing on is accelerating!"

In Puppetmon's home he was watching this happen with a grin on his face, "This is more fun then that time I was fumigated for termites! Wehee!" he did a little dance as he moved off to his toy chest, "Now where did I put those dolls?" He started throwing random things over his shoulders, not even paying attention to anything that didn't look like what he was searching for, "I haven't seen some of these toys since I was a sapling."

Back in the forest, Tai had decided on a plan of action, "We've got to jump off!"

No one disagreed. They all moved to the left side of the path they were on and jumped off onto one of the stationary pieces of the forest. That only lasted for a half a second before the path they were just on stopped moving all together and the one they were on, currently, started moving at a similar speed.

"Now this one's moving!" Izzy exclaimed, staring forward in horror, hoping they wouldn't crash into anything.

"Obviously, someone's trying to get us somewhere," Sora said, "And in a big hurry!"

"I bet you're right," Matt said, "And why do I get the feeling that someone's not too friendly?"

"Oh no!" TK cried as he and Joe turned to face his older brother.

"This is the first time I've been car sick without a car," Joe quailed, his face going a little green as he spoke.

"I've got a plan," Tai informed everyone.

Back in his room, Puppetmon had continued to rifle through his toy box, "This was always good for a laugh." He pulled a toy out of the box that had two handles and it was folded up like a folding chair. At the other end it had suction cups to grab onto things.

"Master!" his minion said, even as the toy unfolded and grabbed him around the head, "Yes, that's very entertaining, Lord Puppetmon, but there's no sign of the children!" he then let out a squawk of surprise when he was pulled off his feet and the Dark Master replaced him in front of the TV.

"What?!" he glared at the TV that showed the area the kids were just in still moving like he'd made it, "They were just here a second ago!" He picked up the remote again, "Where are they?" he pressed one of the buttons, changing the image on the screen, "Not here," he pressed it again, changing the feed again, "Not here! I need a new cable company!" he pressed the button again and again, but still he couldn't find them. "

Unseen from any of his cameras, the kids were in the branches of a tree, looking down at the path below them. It was still moving, as rapidly as ever, but now they weren't being forced to go anywhere they didn't want to go.

Sora was frowning down at the moving path before she looked up at the others, "I have a hunch that one of the Dark Masters is behind this."

"I'll bet you're right," Izzy said.

Lucy nodded to that, "Yeah, I'll take that action."

"We've go to do something!" Joe said, holding onto the trunk of a tree with his arms and legs, "I say we either keep going, or build a nest!"

Tai, who was sitting on a branch across from the blue haired teen, had a plan for that, too, "Well, I say we have to fight whoever it is sooner or later, so let's get to it!"

"Oh, come on!" Matt said, turning his glare on the wild haired boy, "Again with the fighting? Why don't you just go to a neutral corner already?"

"C'mon, Matt," TK said, putting a hand on his brother's arm, "Please stop arguing."

"You keep out of this," the older blonde said to the eight year old boy.

"Alright, Matt," Tai said with a frown on his face, "Let's try it your way," his voice was deceptively calm, "We'll stay up here and wait for the enemy to get us!"

"That's not what I meant!" the blonde barely held back from yelling.

"Stop it, Matt!" TK said, being more forceful now. Pleading obviously hadn't worked, so now it was time for some assertion.

Before anything more could be said, Tai just... disappeared. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't.

"Where'd Tai go?" the blonde asked, "He disappeared!"

"Did he fall?" Kari asked, looking at the spot her brother just was.

Koromon was staring with his mouth open at the empty spot, like most of the others, "Oh no!"

"He vanished into thin air!" Joe said, obviously unable to believe what his eyes were telling him.

"Look!" Sora got their attention, "Now Mimi's gone!"

"Mimi, come back!" Palmon cried.

In the blink of an eye, Sora and Izzy were gone next.

"Sora!" Biyomon yelped, looking at the now empty spot next to her.

"Maybe their screen savers are on sleep," Tentomon said.

"I don't think it works that-" Lucy said, then disappeared mid sentence. It wasn't long before she was followed by Joe and Kari.

"Lucy!"

"Joe!"

"Kari!" Their respective digimon cried.

"Everybody's disappeared but us!" TK exclaimed.

Elsewhere in the forest, Tai suddenly appeared out of thin air, blinking in confusion," Wh-what's going on?"

The sound of static filled the air for a second and Mimi appeared before him with a gasp.

In another patch of the forest Sora and Izzy reappeared, the boy standing on a log.

"Huh? How'd we get over here?" Sora asked, looking around.

"We've been transported!" the tech genius said as he jumped down from the log.

Some distance away from their position, Kari, Lucy and Joe appeared as well. Unfortunately for Joe, he appeared in a mud puddle.

The poor teen let out a shriek of fright, then slumped, "I hate mud."

"Gatomon!" Kari called, looking over her shoulder, hoping to find her digimon somewhere.

"What in the world?" Lucy intoned as she looked around their little clearing.

Back in the tree that the group had started in, only TK, Matt and the digimon remained.

"I think it's over," Matt said, a little bit of fear lacing his tone.

"But now we're separated from everyone else," TK said.

Matt turned on the branch to look at his little brother, "Don't worry, we'll be alright without the others, especially Tai," he hissed the other boy's name.

"Huh?" the eight year old looked up at his brother in shock.

"TK," the twelve year old said.

"Yeah?" the little boy asked.

"Just stick close to me and I'll protect you, no matter what happens," Matt promised.

"Some friend you are!" Skymomon suddenly said, a frown on her face.

"What?" Matt turned to look at the digimon, "What are you-"

"Your friends all just disappeared into thin air, and all you're gonna do is sit in a tree and talk about how glad you are that Tai is gone?!" the monkey interrupted him, "If you didn't have the Crest of Friendship, I would think you didn't even know what it meant to have friends in the first place!" Then, before he could retaliate with anything, the monkey dropped down.

"Where are you going, Skymomon?" Biyomon asked.

"To find the others!" The monkey yelled back as she swung through the trees.

Matt's jaw had dropped open and he was staring in wonder at the place that the little monkey had just been. Had... Had he really seemed like that just now? That wasn't true! He cared about the others, but TK had to be his first priority. That was all.

"She's right," his head whipped around, his eyes wide, "We wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for everyone, Matt," his little brother had a strong look in his eyes that hadn't been there before, "We haven't defeated all those bad guys by ourselves, everyone helped out, even Tai!"

"But I..." Matt tried to justify himself to his little brother, but the words wouldn't come.

"And I don't need you to protect me all the time, either!" TK went on, "If you haven't noticed, I've grown up a lot! I've fought alongside you guys since the beginning, and I've always held my own!"

"TK," the older blonde breaths, his shoulders beginning to slump, "That's not what I meant. What I... What I wanted say was..." he trailed off.

"What?" the little boy asked.

But Matt couldn't come up with something that would make things better. He turned away, angry again, but now at himself.

'_I'm pushing everyone away,_' he realized, '_Maybe Skymomon was right. Maybe I don't know what it's really like to be a friend._'

+-9

In Puppetmon's room, the Dark Master had quite the little set up going. The kids were on his TV, occasionally switching between feeds to show what they were all doing, and he had a little matt set out that had a forest painted on it. Standing in various places on the matt were little dolls that looked like the Digidestined themselves. If one looked closely at the matt and the placement of the dolls, they'd see that their placement on the matt matched the actual childrens placement in the forest.

"One, two, three, you're still in the tree," Puppetmon said as he looked at the little figurines that represented Matt and TK, then looked at his minion, "You know, Kiwimon, this isn't as much fun as I thought it would be. I should just destroy them all!"

"Then you wont have anyone left to play with," the wingless bird digimon said simply.

"Good point!" the puppet digimon picked up a wooden sling shot and loaded a little metal ball into it. He took aim, and fired it, hitting the little figure of Lucy, right in the back, knocking her over onto the figure of Joe.

+-9

In the forest, next to the large mud puddle, Joe was just getting out of the mud when suddenly Lucy let out a loud yelp of pain and tumbled into him, sending them both into the muck again.

"Lucy! Joe!" Kari gasped, "Are you two alright? What happened?"

"I dunno," Lucy grunted as she rubbed her back as she sat up, grimacing in pain, "Something hit me in the back an-" she was cut off as she suddenly disappeared.

"Oh no!" Joe quailed, "It's ha-" he was gone next, only to be replaced by Tai.

"Oh, brother," Kari sighed, seeing the teleporting started up again.

In another clearing, some distance away, Joe reappeared, finding himself standing with Mimi.

"Stop moving!" the girl cried.

+-9

In his home, the evil puppet digimon was laughing uproariously as he started shifting the figures around randomly.

"This is like playing chess with the Digidestined!" Puppetmon laughed, placing Lucy's figure in the clearing with Sora and Izzy then grabbing Kari.

+-9

"Kari!" Tai whirled around just in time to see his sister disappear, only to be replaced by Sora, a shocked look on the girl's face.

Elsewhere, Lucy had arrived just in time to see Sora get teleported and then saw Kari appear.

"Fascinating," Izzy said.

"Maybe for you!" the eight year old girl said, "Where am I?"

"I wish I could tell you," Lucy said.

+-9

"We've reached a turning point," Puppetmon grinned as he grabbed Tai's figure and turned it so his head was facing the ground, then bashed him into it.

+-9

In the clearing with the mud puddle, Sora watched with wide eyes as Tai lifted about a foot into the air, then turned upside down.

"Impossible!" She exclaimed, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Tai hung there only for a second before he suddenly crashed into the ground, head first. No one would hold it against him when he grunted in pain, then.

Back in the tree that everyone had started out in, Matt thought he felt something, right before he was teleported away and Izzy showed up to replace him. The look on the boy's face was as much confusion as it was anything else.

Before he even had time to realize who else was there with him, TK disappeared, replaced by Mimi, who looked not at all happy to have this happening to her. She was beginning to regret her decision to leave the beach.

"Welcome back," Izzy greeted her.

+-9

Puppetmon picked up TK's figure again, but instead of placing him somewhere else, he began to rub the doll's stomach, "Coochy, coochy, coo!"

+-9

In a clearing with Joe, TK was floating in the air, kicking his legs, flailing his arms and laughing up a storm. Joe could only watch in wonderment and fright as this happened. After a few seconds, the little boy stopped laughing and settled back down on the ground, a confused look on his face.

"I don't know what's so funny," Joe began, "But this is no laughing mat-" he disappeared again, to be replaced by Matt.

"Matt!" TK said with a relieved smile, "You're back!"

"TK!" The older boy exclaimed, kneeling down and pulling his little brother into a hug.

In the tree with Mimi and Izzy, the other childrens' digimon were contemplating their actions.

"You know, I'm getting tired of doing nothing," Biyomon said.

"I wont be some cat stuck in a tree!" Gatomon agreed, "Let's go look for them."

"Good idea," Patamon added, flapping his wing shaped ears and taking to the air, "I'll start by looking for TK."

Mimi sighed, looking towards the ground, "This is awful."

"You said it!" Koromon said, an annoyed look on his face, "How can it get any worse?" Even as he spoke, a crackling sound came from the branch under Izzy, and the boy felt it shift.

"I'll tell ya how," the tech genius said, "The branches are starting to crack!"

The digimon didn't waste a second, all of them, except for Patamon who was already in the air, dropped to the ground below.

The little flying digimon moved off through the branches, a comment on his lips, "They should learn to fly."

Luckily, with all of the digimon gone, the weight on the branch with Mimi and Izzy wasn't so much that it was breaking any more and they could take their time getting down.

+-9

Puppetmon stood before his TV again, zooming in on one face in particular. He grinned evilly.

"I think I found a new toy to play with," he looked at TK's image on the screen, "He looks like he'd be easy to scare."

"Do you want me to get him for you, Master?" Kiwimon asked.

"No!" the childlike, evil digimon said, "I'll get this one myself!" With that he wan to the side of his room that had fireman's pole, he slid down it, laughing to himself as he did, then made his way out of his house to go find the little boy that he'd decided would be a good playmate for a game or two before he was destroyed.

+-9

In the clearing with Matt and TK, the older blonde was still kneeling before the little boy, his hands on his shoulders and looking him directly in the eye.

"TK, are you alright?" you could hear the panic that was just now beginning to fade from his voice.

"I guess so," the little boy said, "but I felt like something was tickling me and I couldn't stop laughing," he almost looked like he could break out laughing again, even as he said that, then said, "I wonder if there's something wrong with me."

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Matt asked again.

This caused TK to frown and he clenched his fists at his side as he said, "Hey! Stop being so worried about me!" his indignant reply caused Matt to rear back in shock, "I told you before that I know how to take care of myself."

"Okay," the older blonde replied quickly, trying to get his little brother to calm down.

Then things got worse.

"Oh, TK, what do ya sa-ay?" a voice sing songed from somewhere in the forest.

"TK," Matt said, standing up and looking around for the source of the voice, "stay close."

"Time to pla-ay!"

"Sounds like the voice is getting closer," the little boy said, scanning the foliage in front of him. He was surprised then, when a pair of gloved hands reached out from behind him and covered his eyes. He flailed for a moment, a brief cry of fear in his throat, before he knocked the hands away and whirled around to face whoever had done that.

What he saw was Puppetmon, the smallest of the Dark Masters, standing before him.

"Time to play!" the evil digimon said with a dark insistence to his tone.

"It's you!" the little boy glared at the Dark Master. This only lasted for a moment before Matt stepped in front of him, arms stretched out to the side.

"Keep your hands off my brother, Puppetmon!" the older blonde demanded, "Or I'll chop you into firewood!"

"Awe, c'mon, be nice," he lifted his hand to point at the eight year old, "All I wanted to do was play a little game of war with TK."

The little boy blinked from behind his big brother's leg, then stepped forward, "Play? You mean like... pretend?"

"But of course!" the wooden digimon grinned with a closed eye smile, then said, "At least in the beginning, it will be make believe, anyway," he waved then, "Then it's bye bye, and it'll be time to destroy you for real. If I got rid of you now, I'd have no fun," the puppet digimon held one finger in the air to emphasize his point.

"TK," Matt said, noticing the look of fright on his little brother's face, "Don't listen to him, he's just trying to scare you!"

"Don't lie to him, or your nose will grow!" Puppetmon shouted before he through a red ball at the older blonde. Before it could hit him, it exploded open, then wrapped around the boy, covering him from his upper chest to his ankles in the stuff, binding his arms tight against his body.

"I can't move now!" he exclaimed, trying to get out of the red junk that had wrapped around him.

"Are you okay?" TK asked. Almost as if in answer, Matt lost his balance standing as he was and fell to the forest floor with a grimace, "Matt!"

Puppetmon moved over to stand right in front of TK at his older brother's head, "Now, shall we get going?" he held his hands out, almost peacefully if you didn't remember that he was one of the evil digimon that had taken over the Digiworld.

TK, unfortunately, did remember that, "Forget it!"

"You don't want to?" Puppetmon placed his hands on his wooden hips, and turned his head to one side, "Hmm. Well, If you don't come with me, it's no fun," he pointed to Matt then, "Maybe, instead, I'll destroy your brother! What do you say?" he grinned maliciously, noticing how the little boy had reacted to that threat. He knew he'd get the little human to play with him. Puppetmon always got what he wanted in the end.

"Okay, I'll come!" the little boy said, a frown on his face.

"That's a good boy," the evil digimon grinned.

"TK, don't!" Matt said, "It's a trap!"

"Shut up!" Puppetmon commanded as he tossed another red ball at the older blonde, this one covering his mouth to stop him from talking, "So, it's a deal? We'll have lots of fun!" he chuckled ominously as he began to lead the human boy back to his hideout.

Matt could only lay there and watch as his brother was taken away by one of the evil digimon that wanted to destroy him and the rest of the group. He couldn't even yell to attract attention. All he could do was sit there and think angry thoughts about the evil Dark Masters and what he would do once he got his hands on them.

+-9

In the childlike digimon's home, he began to explain the rules of the game to the child.

"Okay, now, you hide," he gestured to the whole of the mansion, "and I'll seek and destroy!" he hid his eyes behind his hand, but was noticeably peaking as he started to count out loud, "One, two, three..."

TK didn't waste a single moment. He ran for cover. Literally. He had to find a good hiding spot.

He charged down hallways, around corners, and through random rooms filled with toy chests. When he heard Puppetmon closing in on him, he started up the stairs.

"That's good, keep running!" the evil digimon called out to him, "You'll make the game interesting!"

In a room somewhere on the upper floor, another couple digimon heard the game going on.

"Hey, someone's comin'," said the large yellow flower digimon, a mass of green tentacles coming down from her head.

"Who could it be?" asked the purple capped mushroom digimon with pink gloves and boots.

"Sounds like Lord Puppetmon has a new play toy," the flower digimon suggested as they heard the human's foot steps getting closer.

Gasping for breath as he ran, TK opened the door at the end of the hall, went in and closed it behind him. Turning around, he found himself face to face with another two digimon.

"Oh, hi there," he greeted quickly, "Bye," he said next, running to hide behind a dresser. Thinking about it for a moment, he stuck his head back out and said, "By the way, I'm hiding back here, so don't say anything, 'kay?"

"No problem," the mushroom digimon said.

The little boy pulled his head back behind the dresser, just as the door opened again to admit the Dark Master himself.

"Hey you guys," Puppetmon said as they turned to face him, "You didn't happen to see a little kid back here, did ya? He's got a green hat and a back pack."

"No, we didn't see anything like that, boss," the flower said just before the mushroom picked up from there.

"All we saw was a kid wearing a back pack and a green hat. He's hiding over there," the mushroom pointed to the dresser.

TK felt a spike of anger in his chest at that, but didn't bother to stick around and explore it. He had figured those two would turn him in, no matter what he said. That's why he had subtly, quietly, moved away from where they saw him hid until he was behind the open doors.

When Puppetmon looked behind the dresser, he found no sign of the boy in question.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the wooden digimon sang, then added, "Especially if you're behind the door."

Realizing he'd been caught, TK came out of his hiding spot and kept running.

"Aha!" the Dark Master said, running after him.

+-9

Just outside the mansion, Patamon began to approach through the air. He was searching for TK, flying through the forest, when he caught a flash of odd colors. He flew around a tree to find the home of the smallest Dark Master.

"Look," he said to himself, "A house in the middle of the woods," he flew forward, "I wonder if anyone inside has seen TK."

+-9

Inside the mansion, the little boy in question had lost Puppetmon and was now looking for a new place to hide on the second level. He ran up to one door, twisting the handle and pushing it open. The room he ran through, had he the sense of mind to look around for more than a hiding places, had a TV and a matt set out that had little figures of him and the rest of the kids.

He also didn't notice it when he stepped on the TV remote, hitting a button and causing a reaction in the forest.

+-9

Sora and Tai were almost knocked off their feet when the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to move.

Kari and Joe actually were knocked off their feet.

Mimi yelped in fear as the tree began to move, she and Izzy holding on for dear life.

Matt had been inching forward in the direction that Puppetmon had taken his brother when the ground began to move. Now, all that hard work was ruined as he was pulled backwards.

"Lucy!" Skymomon cried as she saw her partner streak by, maintaining her balance by holding onto a log. She dove through the air after the girl.

"Skymomon!" the pink haired girl called back.

After a minute or so of the ground moving, the kids and digimon were surprised to find themsels all together again.

"What's going on around here?!" Joe cried, seeing his friends. Then a smile crossed his and everyone else's faces as their digimon joined them once again.

"Matt!" Gabumon called, seeing the boy all wrapped up. He ran forward and lifted one hand into the air, using the claws on the end to cut off the red stuff.

The first thing the boy did upon being released was take a deep breath before he sat up, clenching his fist, "TK!" he cried, "TK was taken prisoner by Puppetmon!"

"Puppetmon?" Tai asked.

"Oh no!" Kari exclaimed, knowing that couldn't be good.

"We have to help him," Sora said next.

"Where'd that creepy little toothpick take TK?" Tai asked now, ready to jump headlong into a rescue effort.

"I don't know!" Matt nearly sobbed, holding his head in his hands. He couldn't believe how helpless he'd been. He couldn't protect his brother at all when it mattered the most.

"Get a hold of yourself, Matt," the wild haired boy said.

"It shouldn't be that difficult to find them," Izzy said, "I'm sure that first road we were on leads directly to Puppetmon."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, holding Skymomon in her arms, "I bet the jerk was trying to get us to where he could do all that weird stuff he did, earlier."

"But if we follow that road, we'll all be trapped," Joe said.

"It's worth it to save TK!" Koromon said without a second of hesitation.

"I agree!" Tai said next, looking to Matt, "Let's go get him!"

The blonde boy nodded and stood up, ready to go get his brother back. He turned to walk in the direction he'd last seen his brother going when a new digimon dropped down in front of the group.

"Who are you?" Tai demanded of the newcomer.

"No one may interfere with Master Puppetmon's play time," it was the wingless bird minion, Kiwimon, that spoke to them now, "You're all staying right here."

"Oh no!" Tentomon cried, "It's Kiwimon, an ancient digimon that was said to be extinct! Although he's a bird type digimon, his wings have degenerated, so he can't fly!"

"_Pummel Peck!_" the ancient bird digimon yelled as he opened his mouth and fired off little birds, all wearing the same white skull plate as him. They flew through the air with little cheeps that would have almost made them seem cute if their weren't trying to use their needle sharp beaks to stab at the Digidestined.

"Koromon, Digivolve to Agumon!" the yellow dinosaur stood before his partner and said, "Have some _Pepper Breath!_" He shot out the ball of fire, taking out one of the tiny birds.

"_Spiral Twister!_" Biyomon shouted as she fired off her own special attack. When that one was destroyed, Lucy could have sworn she heard the little thing shout 'Ouch!'

"_Super Shocker!_" a bolt from between Tentomon's wings took out another, leaving only one more.

Gabumon stepped up then, focusing his energy, "_Blue Blaster!_"

The final little bird was destroyed and the kids and their digimon turned to look at Kiwimon.

+-9

Around that time, at the mansion, Patamon had found an open window on the second level of the mansion, and winged his way inside. The room he had winged into was the one with the dolls of the Digidestined and the TV.

Seeing the remote, the little guy picked it up and pointed it at the TV.

"Hmm," he hummed, looking at the toys on the mat, "I wonder what these dolls are for," he nudged one, "This one looks like Joe." The Joe doll fell over and Patamon then noticed the boy on TV fell over as well.

"_Joe, what happened?_" Gomamon asked, looking at the boy

"_Why does this stuff always happen to me?_" the blue haired teen groaned.

"_Weird, I didn't see anyone push you,_" Kari noted.

"Joe's on TV?" Patamon questioned to the air, then looked to the remote, "Let's see what else is on," he started randomly clicking buttons on the remote until the feed changed to a random part of the forest and the path on the screen started to move, "Oh," he saw that then pressed another button, causing it to stop, "Now that's what I call remote control!"

+-9

Elsewhere in the mansion, TK was still running for his life, but he was beginning to run out of both breath and places to hide. He started towards the stairs down to the first level, but that path ended up being blocked by the one digimon he really didn't want to see right now.

"Yoohoo!" Puppetmon grinned as he came up the steps, causing the boy to skid to a halt, "There you are, I found you. The games over," his voice lost its friendly tone, "I'm gonna destroy you in a minute, but first I have to scratch my leg," the evil digimon reached down and started scratching roughly against his left leg, "I guess that's what I get for having a leg made of poison oak!"

Even as the evil digimon continued scratching, a thought came to TK. The fear drained a way, leaving only a contemplative eight year old in his place.

'_I can outsmart him!_' He placed his hands on his hips and looked directly into the red eyes of the evil digimon and said, "How boring, I'm not having any fun at all."

"What?!" Puppetmon cried, "I'm the life of the party! I put the 'Fun' in 'Fungus'!"

"Ha! You just play the same game, over and over again!" the little boy grinned slyly, then looked away as he said, "Boring!"

Puppetmon gasped, realizing the truth of this kid's statements, "I'm not boring," he denied weakly.

"Well, if that's true, how come you don't have any real friend?" TK asked him now.

"I've got friends," the Dark Master said softly, looking at the ground sadly.

"Yeah?" the eight year old leaned forward towards the digimon, "Then how come I haven't met these so called friends of yours?"

"Alright, I'll get them and introduce you, right now!" Puppetmon said, running off to find his friends. He ran down the stairs, his wooden feet clanking against each step.

"TK!" A familiar, and welcome, voice said from behind the boy. He turned around to see his digimon and friend, flying through the air with a TV remote in hand.

"Patamon!"

+-9

Downstairs, in another room filled with old toys, Puppetmon lifted up a football, saying, "I like to make friends." It didn't take a genius to realize where he was going with this. He was actually going to _make_ himself a new friend to play with. He started gathering the other necessary supplies, a smile on his face.

+-9

Back upstairs, Patamon had shown TK the room with the mat and all the dolls. He told him about the TV, and the remote, and even how all the dolls worked by poking one, Lucy in particular, and watching the girl react on the TV screen.

"We have to destroy all this stuff, Patamon," he picked up the dolls and put them in his pack, "We can't destroy these though, they might hurt the others."

"Right," the tan digimon said, nodding.

Next, TK folded up the mat ad tore it to pieces, through the said bits of paper around the room. Then, he took a hammer to the remote, so it couldn't be used against them any more either. Finally, he directed Patamon to use a Boom Bubble on the TV, destroying that as well.

+-9

Kiwimon kept firing more of those little birds, but the Digidestined's digimon kept destroying them before they could hit. If any of the kids tried to move around him, he'd fire more little birds at them. It was a stalemate.

"Hey, where are you keeping TK?" Matt demanded from the flightless bird.

The minion of Puppetmon just laughed, like that was the funniest thing in the world.

"Answer me!" the blonde yelled, clenching his fists. If Lucy didn't know better, she'd say the boy was about to jump at the bird himself and start pummeling it.

"I know how you feel, Matt," Tai said, trying to calm him down, "but first we have to defeat Kiwimon!"

"How can you understand how I feel?" Matt asked, looking away.

Tai turned to face him fully while gesturing to Kiwimon, "I understand that, if we don't beat him first, we wont be able to find TK!"

The blonde just clenched his fists at his sides for a moment and ground his teeth together before he turned to the wild haired boy with a glare, shouting, "No! First, we find TK, then we'll fight your war!" he turned to Gabumon, holding his fists before him.

"Right, Matt!" the digimon said, turning to face their enemy as he called out, "Gabumon, Warp Digivolve to... huh?" It wasn't working. The Digivice was beeping wildly like normal, but none of the needed energy was flooding his body to let him turn into Metalgarurumon.

Matt looked at his Digivice, trying to figure out what was wrong, holding his Crest in his other hand, staring at it with despair when it didn't even flicker with energy.

Even the other kids were shocked to see this happening.

"It wont glow," the blonde boy said, trembling.

"What's going on here, Matt?" Gabumon asked, turning to face his partner, "How come I can't Digivolve?"

The boy couldn't answer, he just kept staring at his Crest in horror. If Gabumon couldn't evolve, he couldn't save TK. If he couldn't save TK, his brother would surely die. And if he died, it would be all Matt's fault for not looking after him properly like he was supposed to. It was all so messed up!

"_Pummel Peck!_" Kiwimon shouted, using their moment of distraction to launch more attacks at the children.

+-9

Puppetmon held up the 'friend' he'd just built with a smile on his wooden face, "There, done! I said I like to make friends and I made one!" He moved off then, to go show TK his hard work.

The boy in question was moving down stairs at the other end of the hall where Puppetmon was climbing them, getting just out of sight as the evil digimon got to the second floor.

"I brought my friend! Look!" Puppetmon called out, then noticed that TK wasn't anywhere to be seen, "Huh?" he looked around again, "TK?"

The boy and his digimon had just made it out the front door of the mansion and ran for the hills. They didn't stop for anything, even as they passed an odd bush and a strange flower, growing just outside the lair of Puppetmon.

+-9

As Kiwimon's attack closed in on them, the kids couldn't help their shrieks of fright. It always seemed to come down to this, they were always on the verge of getting seriously hurt. But they did have an advantage on their side.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!" Once that was done, the fire bird spread one wing into the path of the little birds, all of them burning up in the flames that were her feathers.

"What?!" Kiwimon demanded, looking at the huge bird digimon that could actually fly.

Birdramon lifted into the sky then, focusing her energy into her wings, "_Meteor Wing!_"

The streaks of fire cut through the air at the ancient bird digimon. He was able to dodge the first few, but then he was struck by more of the blasts. Instead of screams of pain, all they heard was more of his deep laughter as he was deleted by the attack.

"Birdramon!" Sora called up to her partner with a smile, "Thanks a lot!"

The giant flaming bird landed and de-Digivolved in Biyomon, who said, "You're welcome!"

"Biyomon," the red headed girl said softly, a smile still on her face, thinking about how lucky she was to have such a friend.

"Biyomon, what did you do?!" Matt shouted, running over to the digimon and her partner, "Look what your digimon did!" the blonde shouted at Sora, holding his clenched fist before him, "Without Kiwimon, we'll never find TK!"

Tai ran over then, gripping the blonde by his shoulder and his wrist to make sure he didn't do something he would regret later, "Calm down, Matt!" he ordered.

"Hey!" TK's voice called, attracting the attention of the whole group.

"It's TK!" Sora exclaimed.

"Hey, everybody! Hi! I'm back!" the little boy waved energetically as he ran up to them with Patamon flying beside him. Matt's jaw dropped open in shock. TK was fine. He was right there. He was okay.

"TK!" the older boy cried and the group ran forward to meet the little boy half way.

"See, everybody, I told you I could do it!" he said with a grin, "I can take care of myself, just fine!"

"You're the man!" Kari said with a grin.

"Nice going, TK!" Tai added, "Great job, buddy!"

"I'm impressed," Lucy said, giving the boy a thumbs up, "You're getting pretty awesome."

"We were getting worried about you," Mimi said.

"Boy," Joe breathed, then added, "For a little kid, that was a pretty big escape!"

TK just laughed happily at all this praise, putting his hands behind his head and drinking it all in, "Stop it, guys, you're embarrassing me!"

Matt, at first he'd been smiling, just like everyone else, relieved, but, as each comment came, his smile dropped further and further as he remembered the things that the little boy had said to him earlier. TK didn't need his help. He could take care of himself. Matt... wasn't needed.

The boy took a few steps back, then turned around and began to walk away, a sad look on his face.

"Where are you going, Matt?" Gabumon immediately followed him, his question causing Joe to look over his shoulder momentarily to see the older blonde splitting off from the group.

"I also smashed the remote control that was making the ground move underneath us!" TK said, distracting the blue haired teen.

"That's great, TK," Joe told him, turning to face him again.

"Prodigious!" Izzy added.

"Everything's gonna be alright now," the little boy said as he took off his back pack and opened the flap, "Puppetmon was using these dolls to control us. That's why all those weird things were happening."

Reaching forward, Tai picked up the doll that resembled him, while the others did the same, "Is this me? I don't look anything like this! Ha!" he laughed.

"I dunno," Lucy said, standing beside him, and looking at hers, "I think they're kind of cute."

"Wow, Mimi," Sora said, "Your doll is really pretty."

"What?" the girl frowned at her doll, "No way! I would never wear rags like this! Oh!" her expression brightened, "I could take her to the mall for some new clothes!" She and Sora both started giggling at the thought.

"Alright!" Biyomon and Palmon said to the girls simultaneously, "You go!"

+-9

Puppetmon eventually found his observation room and the state it was in. The pieces of the mat all over the place, the dolls missing, the remote and TV broken.

He reached down slowly and picked up the crushed remote, looking at the remains of one of his favorite toys. If one didn't know he was an evil digimon that had twisted the digital world up into Spiral Mountain, they'd begin to feel sorry for him as he stared at the device pensively.

"So, he didn't want to play with me, huh?" he frowned then, turning away from the TV and dropping the remote, "TK," he growled, "I'll make you pay."

+-9

It was around a few minutes later that TK noticed the only dolls that hadn't been taken from his pack were his and Matt's. He looked around for a few moments, trying to spot the boy's green shirt, but couldn't find him.

"Did anyone see where Matt went?" He asked the other kids as they looked at their little dolls.

"He's right over there," Joe pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Huh?" TK looked around the tall boy, but still didn't see his brother.

"Huh?" The rest of the group intoned as they looked up, not finding the boy, and Joe continued, "I don't get it. He and Gabumon were there a second ago. They vanished!" They looked into the trees, only seeing a path that was shrouded from the sun by the thick branches overhead. "Here we go again!" the teen's shoulders slumped.

Chapter Forty: End.

Please Enjoy.


	41. Chapter 41 Trash Day

Chapter Forty One: Trash Day

Lucy was not thrilled with this turn of events. Matt had disappeared, not even all that long after TK had come back, and there was only a small number of things that could have happened. It would sound bad if she said she hoped he had been captured, but that was better than a couple of the alternatives.

Skymomon had told her, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, about the little tantrum she threw in the tree. Lucy assured her that couldn't have been what sent Matt away. Even if it was, and she didn't say this to the monkey, it couldn't have been the whole reason.

'_If Matt ran away because of what Skymomon said, there has to have been something wrong before that. What Sky said wasn't even that harsh,_" Lucy thought.

"Matt! Hey, Matt!" Tai yelled. The forest around them almost seemed to have swallowed the boy up, and the worst part was, none of the kids could hunt or track, so they couldn't find the boy that way.

"Matt! Where are you?" Sora's voice also echoed around the forest. After the major arguments that Tai and Matt had earlier this very day, he might not even want to see the other boy, so maybe he'd answer to her voice.

"Matt?" TK's voice was perhaps the most insistent.

"I'm worried," Kari admitted from beside her big brother, "What do you think could have happened to him, Tai?"

The wild haired boy just crossed his arms and looked away, "Matt's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"Well, wait a minute," Agumon said, "What if he was kidnapped by Puppetmon?"

"Yeah, he might have been," Izzy chipped in, "Or something worse."

None of them really noticed Joe, at the back of the group, his gaze cast towards the ground. Like Skymomon, he was feeling guilty, for a different reason, though.

"No," the teen boy said, "It wasn't anything like that."

"What?" Izzy turned around to face while everyone else looked up as well.

"How do you know?" Tai asked.

For a second, Joe couldn't meet their gazes, then he looked directly at Tai and said, "It was just after TK got back from Puppetmon. He turned and walked into the forest. Told Gabumn to come with him."

"What? He just walked away?" the wild haired leader sounded incredulous, moving up to stand right in front of Joe, grabbing his arm, "And you didn't even try to stop him?"

"Well, no. Was I supposed to?" the boy asked, then decided that needed some explanation, "I thought he might be going to use the bushes, or something."

Tai's frown dissipated with that. He couldn't really argue against that thought.

"Huh, this is weird," the wild haired boy cast his eyes towards the ground, "I mean, it's one thing if he was kidnapped, but why would he just disappear on us, like this?"

Agumon moved over to stand by his partner, "I'll say. He's been gone way too long for just a potty break."

"Wait a minute," Sora said suddenly, "Is it just me, or has Matt been kind of strange lately?"

Thinking back on it, Izzy replied, "He has been acting a little high strung."

"I've got to agree," Lucy said, "Matt's always had his own opinion of how things should be done, but it seems like he's been really aggressive about it lately."

"Remember when Gabumon had that Digivolving problem?" Biyomon asked Palmon.

The plant digimon's eyes widened when she remembered how the fur covered digimon had tried to Warp Digivolve, "Yeah, I bet there's a connection."

Suddenly, Kari gasped, whipping around and scanning the tree tops, but nothing was there. The only sounds to be heard were the sounds of the jungle.

"Kari, what is it?" Gatomon asked, coming up to the girl.

"I thought I heard a voice out there," the little girl said.

Her brother stepped up behind her then, "A voice? Was it Matt?" he looked off in the direction the eight year old had looked, listening closely for... anything, but he didn't catch anything that might have sounded like a voice to him. "I don't hear anything," he glanced at the girl, "C'mon, Kari, don't you start losing it, too."

"He couldn't be very far away, you know," Izzy said now, thinking about the entire problem logically, "Maybe we should look for him."

"Yeah, I suppose," Tai said, turning to face the group, "Okay, guys, let's go!"

Kari didn't move at first, just looking up into the sky where she had heard the voice, then looked at her digimon, "Gatomon, it wasn't Matt's voice I heard."

"Who's was it?" the cat asked.

+-9

A surprising distance away, near a lake in the middle of the forest, Matt and Gabumon broke out of the treeline. The blonde boy was silent, thinking deeply about how everything was turning out. His thoughts were incredibly introspective. He was looking over everything he'd done since he got to this world in the very beginning to what he'd been doing since he got back. All he could come up with was that something was wrong. And he had a good idea what it was.

"Matt!" Gabumon called, trying to keep up with the boy, "C'mon, I'm all for exercise, but I'm really not built for long distances," the poor digimon was huffing and panting as he tried to keep up with the long legged human, "Matt, where are we going?"

Finally, the boy decided to respond, "Just away. I need some space."

The boy didn't know it, but he was being observed.

"Aw, the poor little kid needs some space," Puppetmon said from the branch of a tree on the other side of the lake, "Somewhere far away from his nice, little friends and closer to me!" he almost giggled in excitement. This would be perfect payback. TK had wrecked his stuff, so he was going to wreck TK's brother.

"I agree completely," another voice said, from no visible source.

"I'm not waitin'. I'll put him out of his misery," the Dark Master stood up on the branch, "Those Digidestined Kids really bug me!"

"Wait a minute, Puppetmon, I have a better idea," Puppetmon looked to his mysterious minion, "You can take care of those other Digidestined, if you want to, but as for this one, leave him to me. I'll have him crawling up a tree by the time I'm through with him." The creature started to laugh sinisterly. The chuckles cause the branches of the tree to shake. This would cause one to look more closely at the plant.

If you did look more closely, you wouldn't find just another tree in a forest of many, you'd find what was undoubtedly a digimon. It was huge, had six wooden arms, a multitude of legs and it's 'hair' was the canopy of a cherry tree. It had two, glowing yellow eyes on its face and no visible nose. It did have a mouth, though, and above it, a mustache made of moss. In one of his many arms he held a large wooden cane. Over all, he looked wise. And evil.

+-9

After some time of walking around the lake, Matt finally stopped and stared out at the waters before him. He was still contemplating his purpose in the group. After a few minutes, he moved to the base of a tree and sat down, heaving a sigh.

"You ever feel like a fifth wheel, Gabumon?" the blonde asked his digimon who was standing right beside him, "That's what I feel like," he paused to gather the correct words, "All this time, I thought I had, like, a purpose, ya know?" his blue eyes were cast determinedly at the ground, "To look out for my little brother," thoughts and memories started coming back to him, scenes from the beginning of their journey to now, how TK had not only come with the group, he'd contributed, far more than Matt thought he even could, "I thought TK wouldn't be able to survive without me watching over him. Suddenly, it's like he's growing up. He doesn't need me anymore," Matt sighed, his frown deepening, "And it's not just him.

"It's everybody, man," he leaned further back against the tree, but keeping his gaze on the ground, "I mean, when I think of Tai and Mimi and Sora and the others... This place has changed them for the better. They're stronger now. It's almost like they've Digivolved or something."

Gabumon nodded, "Mm-hmm," he kind of understood the feeling, he thought. In the beginning of their adventure together, Patamon had once said that he kind of felt left out, of all the digimon in the group, only he and Skymomon were left out when it came to being able to Digivolve and protect their companions. If Matt was feeling like that...

"But you see, the problem is, I haven't," Matt continued, "I'm still stuck in the same place. I haven't changed a bit."

"You may not see it, Matt, but you've changed a lot," Gabumon said with conviction.

"Oh, please, Gabumon, give me a break," you could hear the weariness in the boy's voice as he said that, barely holding back from snapping at his digimon, "I'm the same jerk I always was." He knew he hadn't changed, not in the least. His ideals and thoughts were always the same, since the very beginning. The only thing that was different now was only circumstantial. This time he knew that he was supposed to be saving the world.

"Aw, c'mon, Matt," the digimon said, his ears drooping with his partner's mood.

"It'll never happen," his frown deepened even more and his body began to quiver with the need to get up and hit something in his rage at himself, "Not like this. I've finally got it figured out," he turned his blue eyes towards the sky, launching to his feet, "If I'm ever gonna change, I'll have to do it on my own!" he glared upwards for a few moments, then turned his eyes back to the ground, repeating more quietly, "On my own," he clenched his fists, "The others can't help me."

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here," the strange voice that breached Matt's private moment was accompanied by the sound of trees being forcefully pushed aside. Both the boy and the digimon turned their heads to see what was coming and found the odd sight of a moving tree, standing there, having just come out of the forest. It had yellow eyes and a moss mustache, multiple arms and a cane. "Greetings, nature lovers," the plant digimon said, and when they didn't respond immediately, Matt in particular standing there with his jaw hanging open, the monster said, "What? You mean you've never seen a talking tree?"

"Not many."

"Be careful. That's Cherrymon, the Lord of the Forest," Gabumon explained, "And the best reason for the existence of termites!" when the digimon started to move towards his partner, the fur wearing creature quickly moved in front of Matt, "You stop, right there, or I'll turn you into tooth picks!"

"You really shouldn't be that rude," the tree digimon said, "Calm down, my fighting days are over. I only want to talk with you. In fact, you might even say I've _turned over a new leaf!_" he laughed lightly at his bad plant pun.

Gabumon didn't even crack a smile, just keeping a glare focused on the monster that he knew was no good. The last time someone had said they'd reformed it was Demidevimon, and look how that turned out.

+-9

Izzy was walking along with the others, looking down at his Digivice with some degree of disappointment. He had been hoping he could rely on the device to find their missing member, just as they had before. If his theory was correct, the range should have been much greater now that they were back in the digital world, but nothing was happening. Nothing at all.

"Mm," he groaned, "It's no use. I'm getting nothing. For some reason, the Digivices aren't working in this forest," he explained.

"You know, I'm not so sure we should be trying to find him," Gatomon said from beside Kari, "Everyone needs to be alone sometimes. I should know."

Tai would have none of it though, "I'm not gonna let him break up this team! We're gonna find him, whether he wants us to, or not!" He had a look of pure determination on his face. Agumon was right beside him, keeping pace with the determined, somewhat annoyed pace of the boy.

"We're always walking around, searching for someone," Joe whined, "I've never done so much walking in my life."

Mimi was looking down at her legs as she said, "Yeah, it's disgusting. My calves are starting to look like a body builder's."

Palmon looked up at her partner with a speculative frown on her face, "Like a what?"

"Oh, Mimi," Sora sighed as she looked over at her friend.

Lucy was bringing up the rear of the group, a half lidded look in her eyes, and a bit of sweat going down the side of her head. The walk really wasn't that intense, even with the pace that Tai was keeping. This headache that was growing in the back of her head, though... it was starting to get on her nerves. When they had first entered the forest after Wargreymon had defeated Metalseadramon, it had started as a pressure that she barely even felt, but it was getting worse and worse, harder and harder to ignore.

"Yoohoo!" an annoyingly familiar voice called from above.

"Great," Lucy drawled under her breath, "Just what I needed. A midget Jerkmon." Skymomon had to stifle her giggles at that.

"Puppetmon!" Tai exclaimed as the group looked up to see the Dark Master sitting at the top of one of the many trees in the area.

"Hi, everybody," the evil digimon greeted like he wasn't there to attack and destroy them, "Hey, TK, did you miss me?"

The little boy took a few steps forward as he glared up at the wooden menace, "No, not at all! And I'm not gonna play with you anymore, either!"

"No?" Puppetmon asked, "Well, fine! You're not a lot of fun anyway!" he turned his head to one side, "Front and center, everybody!"

On the ground, a pink digimon with a crooked beak and a wide grin appeared. It stood in a green trash can, had the lid of the can in one hand like a shield, and a bazooka made of old food cans over his right shoulder. For hair, the pink thing was wearing a banana peal on its head and its eyes were beady little things.

"Yes, sir!" he announced, then another appeared.

"Yes, sir!" the second said.

"Yes, sir!" a third pink monster appeared, all of them identical down to the evil grins on their ugly faces.

"Oh, no!" Palmon said, recognizing these digimon for what they were, "Garbagemon! They're as tough as they are mean," she leaned towards Mimi and whispered, "And they don't smell very good, either."

"Junk Chuckers, read, aim, Fire!" The first Garbagemon announced as the evil digimon aimed their weapons at the children. They pulled the triggers and a small explosion launched a pink pile of sludge from the end of each of the kludged together bazookas.

The kids screamed and ran for cover. All but one.

"Mimi!" Palmon cried when she noticed that the girl wasn't moving an inch, her head down.

The Garbagemon saw this as well, pointing their weapons at her and firing again. The sludge flew through the air, coming closer and closer to splattering against the girl.

The girl suddenly looked up, opening her eyes in a glare at the digimon. Her right arm lashed out suddenly, catching the pink sludge before it could hit her.

"I wont budge!" she declared as she prepared to throw the pile of excrement back at the evil digimon, "Let's let _them_ do the running for a change!" the projectile fell somewhat short of her target, but it did have the effect of stunning, not only the Garbagemon, but also Puppetmon and some of the children as well.

Sora ran out of her hiding place during this brief cease fire and grabbing the other girl's arm, "Mimi, come on!" She started pulling her away. And after realizing what she'd just done, the brown haired girl didn't struggle.

"Good idea," she said, running along, then grimaced, "I must be nuts! I touched that stuff!"

+-9

Back at the Lake, Cherrymon still stood before Matt and Gabumon. So far, he still hadn't made a threatening gesture, but Gabumon hadn't let down his guard at all. He refused to even take his eyes off the digimon he knew to be a bad guy.

"No offense," Matt said, averting his eyes from the plant digimon, "but even if I felt like talking, it wouldn't be to a tree. See ya around," he started walking off towards the right, meaning to go into the forest and find a quiet place that would stay that way this time. Gabumon started to move with him, glad to be getting away from this digimon.

Cherrymon, though, wasn't ready for them to go yet. His top left arm stretched out a moved in their way.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Matt glared at the digimon, wondering if they'd have to fight him after all.

"Young man, didn't anyone ever tell you, you should listen to your Elders?" the tree monster asked, then paused in confusion, "Or was it Red Woods you should listen to? I can never quite get those two straight."

Matt didn't even crack a grin, just glaring at the digimon that was blocking his path.

Noticing this, Cherrymon went on, "But anyway, I digress. So, you're still stuck in the same place. Still the same old jerk you always were," Matt gasped, almost reeling back as if from a physical blow, "Surprised, huh? Ah, I know all about it. It must be tough to be in such a rut."

"You've been spying on me, huh?" Matt held his fists clenched before him.

"Ha! Listen to me, kid, I don't have to spy because their nothing that happens in this forest that I don't know about," the plant digimon said.

"Huh, alright then, if you're so smart, what am I supposed to do? Tell me that!" the blonde demanded.

"Ah, simple as that, huh?" Cherrymon retracted his arm when he noticed that the boy wasn't going anywhere, "Kids. You want all the answers just handed to you on a mahogany platter, but you never want to do the hard work of looking deep within yourself, where all the truly lie."

Gabumon was glaring again, there was no way he was trusting a word this pile of wood spoke, "Let's go!" he insisted, "Don't you listen to that talking firewood, Matt, c'mon!"

The blonde turned to face his digimon ready to leave, but Cherrymon spoke, "That's right go on, but you'll never learn how to change. You'll always be what you are right now."

"I want to change!" the boy said, turning back to the tree, looking up at him and waiting for some kind of wisdom that might be able to help him.

"Yes," the digimon said, "Of course, but are you really ready? After all, change isn't always a pleasant thing. You might find out a few things that you'll wish you hadn't."

Matt stood straight before Cherrymon, looking up at him with a firmed resolve, "I'm ready," He was sure, no matter how painful it was, he could take it if he changed as a result, "More than ready. Enough talking, big guy! If you've got some answers, let's hear 'em!"

Inside himself, Cherrymon was smiling in victory as he thought, '_Ha! He fell for it like an overripe fig,_' then said aloud, "Alright, kid, I'll help you out. First off, you're gonna have to defeat your rival."

"My rival," the boy's brow was furrowed in question.

"There, in that lake, you will see the face of the one who is preventing you from becoming as strong as you could be," Cherrymon pointed to smooth surface of the water nearby.

Matt looked at the lake for a moment, then began to step forward.

"Where are you going?" Gabumon asked him.

"I know it sounds pretty bogus, but... I might as well look."

"Listen, Matt," his partner said as he moved to stand beside the boy, "You don't believe him, do you?"

The blonde didn't answer, just kneeling before the waters of the lake. He looked intently at his reflection for a moment when, right before his eyes, the image melted into another one. One he recognized instantly.

Gabumon gasped and the boy just frowned as he said, "Tai? C'mon! What kind of trick is this?"

+-9

The others were still running from the Garbagemon at this point. They were making good time, but the evil digimon were keep up with them rather well.

"Ha!" the lead Garbagemon said, "Don't you know? No matter where you go, there will always be garbage!" the three of them stopped in the middle of a clearing when they noticed the kids splitting up and running in different directions, "Okay, ready?" He asked as the three of them moved to be sitting In their cans, all back to back, "Make a mess!"

The three evil digimon began to spin very quickly in a circle, firing off the sludge in every direction, basically just hoping they would hit one of the Digidestined.

What actually ended up happening was the arrival of six Champion digimon. Flying over the trees were SkyYetimon, Birdramon and Kabuterimon. Coming out of the forest on the ground were Greymon, Ikkakumon and Togemon. The six Champions glared at the evil digimon for a moment before they started using their attacks.

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Harpoon Torpedo!_"

"Gain way for _Needle Spray!_"

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

"_Nova Blast!_"

The six attacks combined, turning into a whirlwind of power that exploded on the Garbagemon. The smoke from the explosion could be seen for miles around.

"Yeah!" Tai shouted with a smile on his face, "You did it!"

The other children came out of the wood work too, hopeful grins on their faces.

"That trash is thrashed!" Joe said with a grin.

And it looked like he was right, too. The smoke cleared away and they found, not three evil digimon without a mark on them, a crater from where the attacks had collided.

"Way to go, everybody," Lucy said with a smile, but the good mood was interrupted by the chuckles of someone she wasn't really hoping to see again.

"Great, you totally ruined my garbage fun!" Puppetmon said, "I'm going home! Psyche! Look behind you!"

Mimi and the others looked over their shoulders. What the saw was one of the Garbagemon flying through the forest, right at them with that sinister grin on his face.

"It's trash! Look out!" the pampered girl cried.

The Garbagemon looked through the sight on his kludged bazooka, "Here's mud in your eye!"

"Help!" Mimi cried in despair.

"_Junk Chucker!_"

"Nightmare!" The girl screamed, telling everyone what she thought of this situation.

In response to her partner's distress, Togemon Digivolved. The symbol of the Crest of Sincerity was absorbed into her, and she grew smaller into the pixie form of Lilymon. The evolution was just in time for the pixie digimon to tackle Mimi out of the path of the sludge.

Lilymon then flew towards the monster, intent on getting him at close range, and it was as she closed in to no more than five feet that a second Garbagemon, hidden in the shadow of the first, appeared and both of them fired at the pixie at once.

"Twice as nice!" the lead trash monster said.

The plant digimon gasped, barely dodging the pink excrement. And just when she thought she'd evaded the attack, she found herself looking into the barrel of a third bazooka, another Garbagemon appearing over the shoulders of the first two.

"Trash this tulip!" the first one ordered.

Lilymon frowned and moved forward before the last one could fire, stepping on his face to propel herself higher into the air, leaving a boot print on his face.

"That chick is heavier than she looks," the third Garbagemon complained.

"_Flower Cannon!_" She fired off the green blast, easily deleting one of the miscreants and causing the others to feel much less sure of their victory.

"Alright!" Tai said, "Finish him off!"

In response to his order, Greymon, too, evolved. The symbol of the Crest of Courage was absorbed into the digimon's chest and he grew into the much more powerful form of Metalgreymon.

"_Giga Blaster!_" Metalgreymon didn't waste a second for posturing or scolding speeches, the metal panels on his chest opening and a huge, black, shark shaped missile flew at one of the two remaining minions of Puppetmon.

The Garbagemon tried to fight back, firing his weapon at the giant missile, but it bounced off harmlessly, then he was deleted by the cyborg's attack, leaving only one Garbagemon to stand up before the group.

No one really noticed, and if they had they probably would have laughed, but the sludge that bounced off the missile was propelled through the air by the explosion. Puppetmon, screaming in a little fright as the explosion nearly knocked him off his perch in the tree above, only screamed louder and with more disgust when the sludge splattered into his forehead, right between his eyes.

+-9

Back at the lake side, Matt was staring at the image of Tai that was before him with something akin to unwilling belief. He refused to acknowledge what he was seeing as true. It must be some kind of trick. He and Tai rubbed each other the wrong way, but it wasn't his fault Matt hadn't changed.

"Behold, the face of your rival," Cherrymon said.

"So, you're saying I have to fight, Tai, is that it?" his frown was only growing more strained as the seconds ticked by, then suddenly he stood to his feet, laughing mockingly, "Nice try, foliage face, you had me going there! You'll have to do better than that!"

Cherrymon started laughing, too, which surprised the boy somewhat, "I had nothing to do with it. The Lake of Truth reflects only what is in a person's heart, hence the name."

"You've gotta be kidding," the blonde insisted.

"Sorry, kid, it's never wrong."

"That right?" Matt challenged, "Well, I got news for you, it's off this time. Way off!"

"Well, you can argue with me all you want, but you're really only arguing with yourself," the large digimon said, "It's about time you faced the truth. The one you call Tai is your leader. Everything he says, you do, everywhere he goes, you follow. And yet, in your heart, you resent it because, in your heart your you know you're just as qualified to be the boss as he is!"

Even as the tree digimon spoke, Matt began to go over more memories of Tai and himself fighting. They were numerous, and for various reasons, and it always came down to the point that he didn't just fall in line like the others. Every time he challenged the boy's authority, those were the worst fights.

"Do not be ashamed of your resentment, do not hide it. Embrace it," Cherrymon urged him, "For in your anger, lies your strength. Only when you recognize that will you. at last, be free to grow, to change. So face your rival and prove you are his equal! Or better. By defeating him!"

"Don't listen!" Gabumon exclaimed, trying to break through the misleading words of Cherrymon and the dark thoughts of his partner, "He's just trying to cause trouble! He's playing games with your mind! It's all part of some kind of trap! Tai is your friend!"

That last part seemed to wake the blonde up.

"He's my friend, yeah," he looked at his digimon, but one could tell he was still fighting off the dark thoughts, the sinister maybes that were running through his mind, he turned his gaze to the ground for a moment, "He may not always act like it, but..." he turned an angry gaze on Cherrymon, "He's right! Tai is my friend! You don't fight your friends!"

"Friend? Ha! Now that's a good one!" the digimon replied, "You don't even believe that such a thing really exists!" that took the boy aback, "Not in your heart of hearts anyway," the tree laughed at the look on his face, "Hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

"What's he mean?" Gabumon asked, not understanding what was going on now.

"Friendship. Loyalty. Comrades. Fine sounding words, but that's all they are. Words," the tree digimon went on, ignoring Gabumon, "Illusions. And you're wise enough to see that now. You know that, ultimately, the only person you can depend on is yourself. Isn't that right, Matt?"

Gabumon moved to stand right next to his partner, looking up at him, waiting for him to say that it wasn't true, "He's wrong, isn't he?"

"I don't know," Matt replied, his eyes cast downwards, "I... I don't know!"

"You don't?" the little digimon asked, shocked.

"Alright then," Cherrymon began, "That's enough moping around for now. Look, kid, stop staring at your shoes. The choice in front of you is simple! If you truly want to change, to reach your full potential, you must defeat Tai. It's either that or be content to live your life in his shadow forever."

A stiff wind kicked up, blowing loose leaves out of the branches of Cherrymon's branches. They swirled around the boy. If one were feeling philosophical, they might call it the wind of change.

"What a choice," the boy said sadly, falling to his hands and knees with the weight of this revelation, "What do I do? Oh, what do I do?!" Gabumon watched as the boy reached into his shirt and pulled out his crest, looking at it with disdain, "That's a laugh. Wouldn't you know that my Crest had to be the Crest of Friendship." He clutched it in his hand, shivering with the indecision. He knew he had to do something, but he didn't know what. He didn't know!

"Matt," his digimon breathed lightly, moving closer to him, "There's one thing he's right about. What ever you're going to do, do it!" Gabumon stood there, a light frown on his face, but not truly directed at Matt.

The Blonde's eyes widened when he registered those words and he turned to look at his digimon, "But do what?"

"You've got to hear what your own conscience is telling and not listen to anybody else," the furred digimon told him simply, "Not Tai, or Cherrymon, or me! You've got to have faith in yourself, Matt!"

"What if I make the wrong decision?" he asked, desperately seeking validation.

"I know that, whatever it is, it'll be the right one," Gabumon didn't have an ounce of doubt in his mind, "Because I have faith in you, and whichever path you take, I'm with you," Matt could only stare at his partner for a couple moments, before his mind began to solve his dilemma. It helped unbelievably to know that the digimon was on his side no matter what.

"You mean that?" he asked.

Gabumon felt the spark of connection between him and Matt again, the energy that allowed him to Digivolve once again opening a channel between them. He smiled and told the boy, "You do have a friend, never forget that. I'll always be there, Matt, no matter what!"

The conviction coming through from his partner surprised Matt. The strength of it brought tears to his eyes.

"Gabumon," he breathed, for once in his life feeling like he truly had a friend. Once again, his crest began to glow with the power it had sensed in him from the start.

The power forced Gabumon into a Warp Digivolution, turning him into his Mega form of Metalgarurumon. Cherrymon had to hide his fear, hoping that he wasn't about to be attacked. He wouldn't be able to withstand an attack from the Mega.

"Ready," the digimon said, looking into Matt's eyes, "Lead the way!"

"Right," the boy said, looking to his Crest. He slipped it around his neck and jumped up on his digimon's back. Metalgarurumon galloped away, back towards the group, so that Matt could do what he needed to.

Back by the lake, Cherrymon was laughing in both relief and victory, "Yeah, I think that went rather well," he said to himself then thought, '_Still,I'm surprised by the strength of the bond between them. It took every trick I had to undermine it. If Puppetmon isn't careful, this game could still be lost._"

Some distance away now, Metalgarurumon was picking up some real speed as he ran along with his partner riding him, speaking to him as he ran, "I meant what I said, Matt. Cherrymon was wrong! Friendship. Loyalty. They're more than just words, they're real. And they matter. I'm going to prove it to you!" The reached the edge of a plateau as the metal covered digimon finished his speech. He didn't slow down, just jumping into the air and flying with the use of his metallic wings.

+-9

Elsewhere, Puppetmon was crouched in front of a stream, scrubbing the sludge off of his face with some urgency.

"Yuck!" he snapped aloud, "Splattering me with their gunk! Those bucket brains will pay for this!"

"There you are, boss," Cherrymon said as he came out of the forest, "The plan went perfectly!" Puppetmon looked up at his minion as he spoke, "Just as I thought."

"Plan?" the Dark Master asked, "What plan?"

"You should have seen it! I played that trusting sap like a violin!" Cherrymon grinned, "He's gonna do our dirty work for us, Puppetmon."

That got a smile from the evil little Mega, "Well, sounds like a plan."

"Any seconds now, we'll hear the sounds of Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon locked in mortal combat," the huge tree digimon went on to say.

"You're serious?"

"Oh, yeah," the tree's grin grew, "With any luck, they'll destroy each other. With the two strongest digimon out of the way, the rest will fall like rotten fruit."

"Mortal combat? This I gotta see! Let's go! What are we waiting for?" the little digimon began to move off, but Cherrymon stopped him.

"Wait a minute! We gotta be careful! The Digidestined are strong!" he tried to reason, "Stronger than I suspected, and to underestimate them could be disastrous!"

Puppetmon skidded to a halt, "What?! Are you saying I might lose?"

Sensing he had just tread into dangerous territory, Cherrymon tried to explain it in another way, "I'm only saying you should take them seriously. There's something about them."

"Something? Hmm," he turned to looked at his minion over his shoulder, "You mean like, something I might be missing?"

"Well, not... totally," Cherrymon stumbled, trying to think quickly.

But it wasn't quickly enough.

"I've got everything I need to take care of you!" Puppetmon all but shouted before he jumped into the air, raising his odd hammer, "_Puppet Pummel!_" The impact of the hammer against the ground created a wave of energy that overtook Cherrymon wit ease.

"Oh, the horror!" the digimon cried before he was deleted by the Dark Master he served.

"Man, that kind of negative attitude really brings me down," Puppetmon said before turning and running off to witness the fight between those Digidestined brats.

+-9

After seeing his compatriots destroyed, effortlessly, by the two Ultimate digimon before him, the third Garbagemon knew a losing battle when he saw one.

"Okay, okay!" he said, "I know when I'm beat! You win! I surrender!" He threw down his bazooka and shield, jumping out of his trash can. Lucy practically gagged at the sight of the rest of the monster. He looked like a piece of used bubble gum gained intelligence and started walking around. Then she noticed the smirk on his ugly face. "Just kidding!" he shouted, holding up his trash can, an exerting a sucking force from it.

The wind was so great that the kids were having to hold on trees to avoid being pulled into the attack, Tai, Kari, and Gatomon holding onto Metalgreymon.

"Trash day! Everybody in the can! If you're lucky, you'll get recycled!" Their chanced for survival weren't looking good when they noticed other trees being sucked into the can. Even Metalgreymon was having trouble maintaining his ground, digging his claws into the dirt below.

At the cyborg's ankle, Tai, was holding on to both his digimon and his little sister, "This guy is really beginning to by me!" he yelled over the sound of the whipping wind.

He wasn't ready for it when the force of the wind gusted a little stronger. It ripped Kari out of his grip and Gatomon right after her.

"Tai! Help me!" the little girl cried in fear.

"Kari!" Gatomon yelled, trying to reach her.

"Kari! No!" Tai yelled, reaching out for her.

All hope looked lost, there was nothing any could do from their positions without getting themselves _and _Kari sucked into the can.

And then, things took a turn.

"_Ice Wolf Claw!_" the familiar voice and attack of Metalgarurumon were a welcome sound. Especially when the attack destroyed the final Garbagemon, having the double effect of stopping the gale force winds and saving Kari and Gatomon from destruction.

"It's Metalgarurumon!" Gatomon exclaimed after she and Kari had fallen back to the ground.

Not long after that revelation, Matt walked out of the jungle as well. Lucy was about to run over to greet him, but she noticed something odd about the look on his face.

"Matt!" Joe exclaimed, relieved to have the boy back with them.

"Matt, you're back!" Sora and the others were just as happy to see the boy's return.

"Better late than never!" Tai grinned as he ran over to the blonde, Metalgreymon de-Digivolving behind him, "Where ya been, buddy?"

The blonde neglected to answer, a frown on his face as he looked at the group and Tai in particular. He missed it when Lucy started frowning back at him.

"Thanks for saving our necks, but did you have to cut it that close?" Agumon called to Metalgarurumon as he approached the metal covered digimon.

He barely noticed it in time to dodge when the wolf's eyes glowed blue. The freezing beams of light exploded right in front of him, making the yellow dinosaur reel back.

"What's he doing?" Tai asked Matt, finally noticing that something was wrong.

"Hey! What is this?" Agumon demanded of the other digimon as he stepped closer ominously.

"What do you think? It's a challenge! You might want to Digivolve, and fast!" Metalgarurumon glared at Agumon.

"What have you been eating out there in the forest?" Agumon asked, remembering the mushrooms of forgetfulness and remembering how they could cause a reaction like this, "You wanna fight me?"

In answer, the metal wolf fired two of his missiles, right near Agumon, but not near enough to damage him. They screamed through the air, and all doubt that this was serious left everyone's mind.

"This is insane!" Sora cried, "Matt, what's going on? Is this some kind of Joke?" she approached the boy.

"Matt, I don't know what he's doing, but call him off, now!" Tai ordered, standing before the boy with a frown on his face.

"No, Tai," his voice was ominously calm, "I wont."

"What did you say?" the wild haired boy's eyes widened for a moment, unable to believe what he was hearing, "You wont?" he looked back toward the two digimon who might be about to fight.

"I'm warning you!" Metalgarurumon shouted at Agumon, "Hurry up and Digivolve into Wargreymon, because I wont miss next time!"

Agumon glared back, unable to understand why this was happening, but knowing that if he didn't fight, he might not be alive to regret it, "I think he really means it."

The rest of the group could only stare in mute horror at this. Lucy in particular was finding herself drawing a blank on what to do. She was, at first, about to go give Matt a whack to the head. But that wouldn't solve anything, not this time. Not with the way Matt was acting.

"Well?" the wolf demanded, "You're running out of time, Agumon!"

"Tai! Stop him!" TK cried, turning to the leader of their group.

"Wish I could, but there's only one person who can stop him!" This caused all eyes to turn briefly to Matt, aside from Agumon and Metalgarurumon, all of them hoping the boy would come to his senses and call this fight off.

But he just stood there, his head tilted just a little bit forward, glaring at... everything.

Chapter Forty One: End.

Please Enjoy.


	42. Chapter 42 The Ultimate Clash

Chapter Forty Two: The Ultimate Clash

Lucy clenched her fists tightly, gritting her teeth. She didn't know what to do! Matt was... different. He wasn't angry. No, that's not quite right. He was definitely angry. Everyone could see it. In his eyes, in his posture. But this wasn't any kind of normal rage.

Matt, like she'd said before, had no problems letting Tai know when he had a difference of opinion, even if it turned into little more than a shout fight. Matt's temper usually burned hot and fierce.

This was... cold. Almost unfeeling.

She could almost feel it as the tension in the air grew. This was it. This was the fight she was afraid of. Tai and Matt were about to throw down and it was gonna change things between everyone.

And she didn't know what to do!

Tai seemed to realize that the fight to come wasn't going to solve anything and tried again. He took a deep, calming breath, and looked at the blonde boy.

"Calm down, Matt. No need to get bent out of shape," he said as Agumon moved over to stand by him, hoping that Metalgarurumon wouldn't attack him when he was so close to his partner, "The last thing we need right now is a hot head with attitude. We've got more important things to think about."

The group was parted before the two boys, TK, Kari and Lucy standing on one side, Mimi, Sora and Joe on the other side, the six of them looking between the boys, hoping this wasn't about to devolve into the fight they all knew it would become.

TK decided he'd try, turning his crystal blue eyes on his brother, "Everyone's getting upset." This still had no reaction from Matt.

So Joe stepped up, "Look, all I know is that this stupid bickering is giving me a head ache," he had his shoulders hunched and was holding up his hands with his palms open, hoping neither of the boys would take offense at his words and draw him into the fight like the last time he tried to stop them from fighting.

"Chill out," Matt said in monotone, not taking his eyes off of Tai.

"Matt, have you forgotten that we have been chosen to be the Digidestined?" Joe went on to say.

Finally, Matt reacted.

"Hmph!" he closed his eyes for a moment then turned to look at Joe, holding out one hand to him, "And would you mind telling me who chose us for this dumb job, anyway?"

"I..uh..."

"C'mon!" the blonde urged, holding up a fist now, though not really threatening the teen, "I want some answers, and you can't seem to give 'em to me!"

Joe looked away then, "You have a point there, but I-"

"Don't waste your time, Joe," Tai interrupted the blue haired teen, "Matt's just being a big, spoiled brat."

'_War has been declared,_' Lucy thought, watching the blonde turn back to the leader of their group, '_How do I stop this? What do I do? What do I do?!_'

"You're the brat!" Matt said back to Tai, "Why don't you mind your own business?"

"The problem with you is pretty easy to figure out," the wild haired boy said, closing his eyes and turning his nose up at the other boy, "You're upset because you wanna be the boss!"

The blonde clenched his fists before him and was visibly clenching his teeth as he glared at the other twelve year old for a few moments. He reigned it in though, holding his hands at his hips as he smirked.

"Yeah, like I wanna be the boss of this sorry bunch," he almost sneered, "If any of you _brainiacs_ wants to take charge, be my guest!" he looked at everyone for a moment before his gaze landed on Tai, "I say we should just take care of ourselves."

Sora had heard enough, it was time for her to stop this from escalating, "Stop fighting, you two. We've got to stick together."

"Don't look at me," Tai said, "Matt's the one that started it. He's got a bug up his nose! Hmph," the boy turned and started to walk away, "I don't have to listen to this."

Agumon was quick to follow his partner, a question on his mind, "A bug up his nose? That's a bad thing?"

"One moment!" Metalgarurumon said before he leapt through the air with one push of his powerful legs, landing before the wild haired boy and his yellow digimon, getting a yelp from the human.

Tai whirled around then, holding one fist up before him as he said, "Don't push me too far!" glaring right at the blonde boy.

"Oh, I'm scared," Matt said dryly, hands on his hips still.

"You better be scared!" the wild haired boy warned him, "I'm getting really mad!" the last part was said through clenched teeth.

"Excuse me, but what are you going to do about it?" Metalgarurumon broke into the conversation again, taking a menacing step forward.

"No," Lucy hissed to herself, "Not good, really not good!"

"Lucy?" Skymomon asked softly, taking her eyes off the battle for a moment.

"This getting out of hand, Sky," the pink haired girl said, closing her bright green eyes, "and I can't do anything about it."

"Lucy," the monkey breathed softly.

Above the group, out of their sight, Puppetmon was watching this happen with glee in his maleficent eyes, "So, those little twerps are about to self destruct. Time to sit back and enjoy the show." he laughed evilly.

Back on the ground, Metalgarurumon had taken another step forward as he growled, "Stay right there!"

"Get real, dude," Tai growled back at the metal covered wolf, not afraid in the slightest.

"Watch it! Stand back!" Agumon placed his own body in front of his partner, not willing to let any harm come to him while he was still alive.

Metalgarurumon crouched down a little, then jumped forward into an attack.

Agumon didn't waste a second. The energy that would allow him to protect Tai filled his body and he immediately jumped into his Digivolution.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!" The humanoid digimon knocked aside the attack from the Metalgarurumon, "There is no need for us to fight," he said, looking up at the flying digimon, trying to get him to see reason.

"I must," the wolf said, before charging at the other Mega with a growl. He slammed into him, pushing Wargreymon into a tree.

Tai's digimon, mindful of the power their techniques could generate, quickly took to the air when he realized this fight was happening whether he wanted it to or not. The metal wolf was right behind him, the two of them knocking down branches and leaves in their passing, forcing the children to cover their heads with their arms.

Once high enough in the air, Wargreymon whipped a kick at Metalgarurumon, but the other digimon dodged it then moved forward, latching his jaws around his right bicep, eliciting a roar of pain.

On the ground, Matt looked up at the fight that was starting with a kind of blank look on his face. This was what he wanted. A fight. Something to prove that he was equal to, if not better than, Tai and his digimon. He kept repeating that to himself. That this was what he wanted.

He noticed Tai approaching him out of the corner of his eye while their digimon battled on above. He just smirked at the other boy.

"What's the matter?" He asked, thinking back on something the wild haired boy had said to him when they were fighting over whether or not to climb Infinity Mountain, "You chicken?"

"That's it!" the wild haired boy yelled, lashing out with a straight right, intent on smashing the other boy's face in.

"Matt, I'm gonna tell mom that you were fighting!" TK called to his older brother.

"Sorry, TK, but I have to do this," the older blonde said as he struck back at Tai, knocking him back.

Above them, Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon were flying at each other at full speed, almost like they were playing a game of chicken. At the last second, Metalgarurumon flew a little high, going right over his opponent then banked hard to the right, coming back around and slamming into his back, pushing him back towards the ground.

"Both of you stop it, right now!" Joe ordered the boys, but to no avail.

"It's ridiculous," Izzy added.

"You two are just making things worse!" Sora added her own two cents.

"He's gotta be taught a lesson, and fast!" Tai said, turning to face them for a moment before turning back to Matt, "Here, take this!" He let fly with a left punch that knocked the blonde on his back.

The other boy rolled over onto his knees, grunting in pain as Tai took a knee beside him, grabbing him by the shirt.

"I'm only doing this to honor the memory of all the brave digimon that have helped us," he told Matt with an odd growl in his voice, tears beginning to gather in the corners of his eyes, "They trusted us and believed in our commitment!" he saw that his words were getting to the blonde, who was letting out a few tears himself, "We can't let them down!"

Matt pulled out of Tai's grip and stood up, facing the other boy as he said, "What if we made a mistake?" He almost roared as moved forward into another punch, throwing his whole weight behind it.

In the air, Metalgarurumon let off a barrage of missiles at Wargreymon. Fortunately for the humanoid digimon, he was able to dodge the attacks.

Back on the ground, the other digimon were unable to believe this was happening.

"This is awful!" Palmon cried.

"We have to stop them!" Biyomon said next.

More missiles were launched at Wargreymon, the Mega doing his best to dodge them as the sky lit up with the explosions.

Tentomon hovered over then, followed by Gomamon and Gatomon, "Unfortunately, they're Mega digimon, and there's nothing any of us can do about it."

"The best thing is to just let 'em duke it out," Gatomon said, placing her claws on her hips.

"I just hate fighting, and we can't let our friends destroy themselves," the seal digimon said, looking over at the cat.

Before anything more could be said, Lucy and Skymomon came over as well.

"Don't worry," Lucy said, "I've got an idea that will stop them before they do something they're going to regret. Sky," she turned to her digimon, holding out her Digivice.

"Right," the monkey nodded before turning to look up at the sky, "Skymomon, Digivolve to SkyYetimon!"

"We'll come with you," Biyomon said, preparing to Digivolve next, Tentomon stepping up to the plate behind her.

"No," Lucy said, "This is probably gonna be the dumbest thing I've ever done, and if it doesn't work, I don't want any of you to be hurt for it. Just wait here, okay?"

"What are you going to do?" Gatomon asked, already dreading the answer from one of her new friends.

"I'm gonna go yell at them," Lucy said simply, looking up to the sky.

SkyYetimon picked up her partner then and held her tight as she lifted into the air easily. She flew up into the air, just as Wargreymon was starting up a spin for his Nova Force attack.

In the branches of the trees below, Puppetmon was laughing his red cap off, "I'm a genius, they're all gonna hate each other!" he started laughing even more wildly, kicking his feet and holding his stomach.

Before Wargreymon could get a good spin going, SkyYetimon dived between the two digimon and Lucy stood up on her digimon's shoulder letting out a shrill whistle that gathered the two digimons' attention.

"Lucy, what are you-?" Metalgarurumon began, then narrowed his eyes, "Get out of the way, Lucy, SkyYetimon. We've got to finish this."

"He's right," Wargreymon said, holding his claws at the ready, "You might get hurt if you stay up here."

"As opposed to what?" The girl asked with a growl in her voice, "Watching you two destroy each other? I don't think so," she sent a glare at both of them.

"You don't understa-" Metalgarurumon said, preparing to move around the girl.

"What don't I understand?!" she yelled at him, "That you two are gonna kill one another for no reason? 'Cause I understand that pretty darn well!"

"That's not- we're not-" the wolf began to stammer.

"Not what? Not going to beat each other to death? Not trying to do something that, once its over, you'll never be able to take back? Is that what you're not doing?" the human girl demanded of them, "Or are you not completely forgetting all the digimon that sacrificed themselves for us? Not putting everything they did for us to no good use by trying to kill each other?"

"Lucy," Wargreymon breathed.

"I have to do this," Metalgarurumon growled, renewing his resolve, "I have to support Matt, no matter what!" he started to move around the two, loading up his Ice Wolf Claw attack.

Wargreymon saw this and moved to counter, summoning up his Terra Force attack, making the sun appear between his clawed gauntlets.

"SkyYetimon, I need you to follow the dumbest command I'm ever going to give you," Lucy said to her digimon, looking into her sky blue eyes.

"You want me to fly up between the two attacks?" the yeti digimon asked apprehensively.

"No," the girl said, looking up at the two fighters that were about to fire, "I want you to throw me into the middle of their attacks."

"But Lucy!" SkyYetimon gasped, "No! I can't!"

"You have to, Sky," she looked back into her digimon's eyes, "I don't know how else to stop them. And Maybe then, after they've stopped, they can help me stop Matt and Tai from fighting."

"But-" the winged digimon started, but stopped herself as she looked into the eyes of her partner, "Alright, but if you get destroyed from this, I'm never forgiving you." She hugged the girl to her for a moment then hauled the large hand that was holding her back, then hurled her up into the air.

Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon had finished powering up their attacks and were just now releasing them, just as Lucy moved into their cross fire.

"_Ice Wolf Claw!_"

"_Terra Force!_"

The digimon noticed too late that the pink haired girl had moved between them, and were helpless to anything but watch as their attacks, fire and ice, converged on the girl. Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon's hearts clenched when they realized that they were about to kill Lucy.

"_LUCY!_" they roared, moving forwards as fast as they could, but knowing it wouldn't be quick enough.

Lucy noticed that they couldn't stop their attacks after they were fired, and only SkyYetimon in her ultimate form would have been fast enough to outrun them. Too bad it would be over already by the time she finished Digivolving. She was oddly calm as she realized that she was about to be deleted.

"This is gonna hurt."

+-9

Back on the ground, about two minutes ago, Matt and Tai were still going at it. They had wrestled each other to the ground now, flipping over one another now, occasionally throwing clumsy punches.

"Uh!" Mimi cried, turning away from the fight, "I've had it!" she started to move away.

"Mimi?" Sora intoned, looking at the girl as she left the fight behind her.

The girl moved over to a patch of flowers and crouched down, announcing her plans to the world, "I'm gonna sit here and stare at the flowers until everyone starts getting along!" she sobbed.

"Oh, like that's going to help," Sora said as she moved over to the girl, trying to think of a way to get her to calm down too. This whole thing was getting more and more out of control.

Some distance from everyone else, Kari was staring up into the branches of the trees, talking to a sparkling light, "I'm not afraid," she insisted to the light, then said, a little less sure, "Well, maybe a little." She paused to listen to what the light had to say, then introduced herself, "My name's Kari. Please tell me who you are," she requested, then said, "Do you want to be friends with us?"

A little ways behind her, Gatomon and Izzy were watching the girl talk to... nothing, and were beginning to worry.

"What in the Digiworld is she doing?" Gatomon asked.

"She appears to be conversing with herself," Izzy said, wondering if there was something they weren't seeing to this. Thing in this world were hardly ever what they first appeared to be.

"She's losing it," the cat said, looking up at the boy.

"You seem to be nice enough," Kari told the light, waiting for its reply, then saying simply, "Oh," she closed her eyes and the light grew more intense until a similar light started to shine from within her body.

"Kari!" Gatomon exclaimed as she and Izzy ran forward.

The little girl had reached into her shirt and removed her Crest, holding it up to the light. The bright sparkling light that was coming from the girl and the air before her grew far more intense now, obscuring the boy and cat's view of the eight year old. And it didn't stop there. It kept growing brighter and brighter, moving along the ground and through the air, swallowing them up next.

"Izzy!" Tentomon cried, buzzing forward, the next to be swallowed up by the light.

Tai and Matt noticed the blinding light that was making its way through the forest and stopped their fight long enough to look around, being absorbed into the white light next.

It moved next to Sora, Mimi, TK, Joe, and their digimon, the kids flinching away from the blinding light, almost expecting it to burn as it closed in around them.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Puppetmon cried as the light began pushing him away, blinding and burning him as it grew through his forest domain.

It kept moving through the air, until it finally swallowed up SkyYetimon, Metalgarurumon, and Wargreymon. Lucy, watched as, before her very eyes, the light obliterated the attacks from the two Megas before returning them to their to their In-Training forms, SkyYetimon going back to Rookie. She let out a breath of relief she hadn't known she'd been holding when this happened, just as she too was absorbed into the light.

"That was about the dumbest thing I've ever done," she said to herself, just before she disappeared.

When the kids next became aware of their surroundings, their were in a brightly lit, pure white space. There was nothing for miles in any directions except for them and their shadows, which were oddly pure black.

"Where are we?" Tai asked as he whipped his head back and forth.

"No idea," Matt said from right beside him, turning around to look at the group.

"Lucy!" Skymomon cried as she jumped into the arms of her partner, "Don't you ever do that to me again!" the monkey sobbed as she scolded her partner.

"Definitely not gonna be plan A if it comes up again," the pink haired girl said, then looked around this white expanse, wondering what had happened, and why they were here. Not that she was complaining.

Suddenly, Kari began to speak, but her voice was... deeper, almost as if she were older, but her appearance hadn't changed at all.

"In this world, there is a balance of Darkness and Light," she said, "The light represents all that's good in the world and the darkness is the evil," the kids were looking at their shadows in wonder, coming to understand the relevance of the image before them, "When the Darkness becomes larger than the Light, it upsets the balance," she said, even as their shadows expanded and muted the light almost completely. The only thing to offset the pure black of the expanse was a strip of blood red off in the distance.

"Whoa!" Tai yelped, looking around at the new scenery, "The balance seems to be really out of whack!"

"So?" Joe said, "Somebody find a switch and flip the lights back on."

"For some reason," Lucy said, "I don't think it's gonna be that easy."

Sora was like the others, looking at the scenery with a kind of morbid awe on her face when something started coming out of the darkness.

"Something's over there!" She pointed out, and as one, the kids turned to look at the formation of buildings, maybe even a city.

Suddenly, Tai spoke up, "I know this sounds incredible, but could we be home again?" Even as he said this, the darkness receded until it was only the familiar darkness of night time in the city.

"Hey, it's Greymon!" Lucy said, pointing over towards a glowing portal in the sky where a larger than average Greymon and a green and yellow bird digimon with two green arms were floating up towards it.

"I've seen that digimon before!" Izzy exclaimed, then pulled out his lap top and looked it over, "Why of course! That's Parrotmon. He was the mysterious digimon that appeared in Highton View Terrace approximately four years ago. Now, he's completely Digivolved."

Kari stepped up beside the boy, looking up at the two digimon as she spoke, "He passed through the dimensional divide," she said, "Some time ago, a digi-egg fell through a hole from our world to yours."

That last statement grabbed the childrens' attention, particularly Tai's.

"Kari, what are you talking about?"

"I think Kari's had too much catnip," Gatomon said, looking up at the wild haired boy.

"My theory is that someone's using Kari's body to speak for them," Izzy said, facing the rest of the group.

Before the children could say anything else, Kari, or the thing controlling Kari, turned around to face them, saying, "My wish is that there be peace and happiness for everyone."

"I don't understand," Sora said, holding her hands out before her, "Are you some kind of super being or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I am similar to the digimon. I was produced by data bytes taken from the internet, but there's a difference," she said, "Unlike the digimon, we're unable to take a shape in the form of a physical body. In order for me to communicate I had to temporarily borrow Kari."

"Couldn't you have taken Joe instead?" Tai asked, half joking.

"Hey!" the blue haired teen yelped.

The being in control of Kari ignored the attempt at levity, answering honestly, "I had to take Kari. She's the only one that I'm able to communicate with. To be honest, I wanted to contact you when you arrived at File Island, but it was completely impossible, under the circumstances."

The kids yelped as they were suddenly lifted into the air, gravity losing its grip on them. They were brought through the air, just behind Kari and Gatomon as Nine lights dropped out of the portal. Lucy was so in awe of the flight that she almost missed the light show.

"Wow," Tai said, looking at the world from a bird's eye view, "It's a blast from the past," pointing down at the kids he recognized under the pillar light as himself and Kari, "That's us from four years ago!" they were standing in the rubble from the destroyed bridge, watching as the digimon were lifted into the sky by the portal of light.

"Hey, that's me," Joe pointed out to his digimon, "How typical, I'm on the telephone." Indeed, the boy was on the balcony of his apartment building, talking anxiously into a phone.

"I was so cute," Mimi gushed, looking at herself on the balcony below Joe.

Just below her was the eight year old Sora, "Hard to believe we were that little."

"Wow, look at me, I remember when my hair used to be that long," Lucy said, looking down at herself standing on the Balcony of the building across the street. He pink tresses were almost down to her feet back then. Two floors below her were the chibi forms of Matt and TK, the two of them also lit up in a pillar of light.

"There's my brother and Me!" TK exclaimed with a smile.

A little to the left and on the balcony between Matt and TK's and Lucy's was a six year old Izzy.

"That's definitely me, but what's with the light?" the tech genius asked.

"It's purpose is to process all your vital information," Kari explained.

"That's kind of freaky," Matt said, "Why's it doing that?"

"Just follow me," the girl said, "I'll explain it to you." She led the group into the portal, flying through it a little ways away from Parrotmon and Greymon.

"Here we go again," Joe quailed, hoping the journey through the dimensions would be more pleasant this time. Luckily, for his travel sickness, it was a very smooth transition.

The area where they appeared next was no random point in the digital world. Rather, they had appeared in the middle of what looked like a basement laboratory, filled with very sciency looking devices that Lucy wouldn't be able to guess the purpose for.

"Where are we now, whoever you are?" Sora asked, looking around at the torch lit room.

"A rather bizarre place, indeed," Izzy intoned, scanning the machines.

The kids started walking around when the being controlling Kari didn't answer, looking at all the equipment, no purpose they could divine for any of it.

"Check this out," TK said suddenly, jogging over to a large glass case filled with nine digi-eggs.

The rest of the were quick to follow over to the case, looking at the nine eggs with a small amount of wonder. Each one of the eggs was unique in it's own way.

"They look like digi-eggs," the little blonde boy said, putting his face right up to the glass.

"Look, Crests and Digivices," Koromon pointed out from Tai's arms.

"Okay, this is getting weird," Matt said.

"Oh, and floating in the sky is normal?" Joe asked. A moment later he heard a noise and turned around. Almost immediately a scream ripped loose from his throat. The other kids whirled around, ready for a fight. Instead, what they got was the phantom images of a bunch of people in beige robes walking around with their hoods drawn up. Well, most of them anyway. There were about six that were waling around without their hoods.

The first was, perhaps, the most noticeable. It was a tall man, about six foot five, and he had bright pink hair tied back in a pony tail. He had a serious look on his face. His eyes were a deep blue and his clothing was the same as everyone else's except for the bright green gloves he wore on his hands.

"That's... that's my dad," Lucy breathed, looking at the man. The others blinked for a moment then looked closer at the man, they had to admit that they could definitely see where the girl got her hair from.

Behind him, walking closer than was probably necessary was a beautiful woman with sharp, regal features, snow white hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders. Were it not for the beige robes, she might have appeared to be a queen in her court.

"And that's my mom," Lucy said, tears gathering in her eyes, happy to finally, truly see the forms of her parents, "They're my parents."

Sora placed a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Who are these other guys?" Tai asked, looking at the other four people that had their hoods down.

"I don't know," the ten year old shrugged, looking at them.

The third person was another man, with spiky black hair. He had a squarish face, and a piercing in each ear that looked like a dragon wrapped around his ears. Behind him was a smaller man that had long brown hair that was in dreads. He had a scar across the bridge of his nose that seemed to make him look rather dashing. Fifth was another man, this one practically a giant. He had a perpetual scowl and no hair on his head, not even eyebrows. His thick muscles were visible even through the robes pulled around his body. Finally, the last person appeared to be a teenaged girl with bright red hair. She was walking along, blowing bubbles with pink bubble gum. She had freckles across her face and a somewhat bored look as she walked around the lab behind the others.

"So, what's going on here?" Joe asked, watching as the people moved around the room.

"What's the matter, fellas, can't you say hello?" Gomamon asked, talking to the images of the people.

"Mom, dad," Lucy said, moving over to stand in front of the two, but they didn't even react to her presence.

"These people are just computer images," Kari said, moving to stand in front of the group, "They are figments from the past that have been digitally transferred to the present."

Izzy was still moving around the lab when he gasped. He hurried over to a familiar podium with Tentomon right beside him.

"I don't believe it! This is from Myotismon's castle!" he stared incredulously at the pedestal that had the nine markings where you were supposed to place the cards.

"Here's Myotismon's secret passage!" Biyomon exclaimed as she winged her way over to the humongous, steel gate that opened to other worlds. The kids all moved over to the gate, looking up at it, unable to believe that there was a time that this place wasn't in the hands of that evil digimon.

"Let me guess, those are the elves that make the shoes at night," Joe snarked, looking back at the people working on the machines.

"They're Guardians," Lucy said, "Protectors."

"Yes," Kari said, "They're monitoring positive and negative forces to preserve harmony in the world. We took the information that we scanned from all of you, then we created your Digivices and Crests."

"You did that?" Sora asked.

"That must mean that your the ones who chose us," Tai theorized, stepping towards his sister and the being using her to talk, "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," she gave a single nod.

"Then tell me this," the boy continued, "what makes us so special?"

"You made it possible for Greymon to survive and Digivolve. It couldn't have been accomplished without help from you and Kari," she informed him.

Tai and the others were confused now. That didn't make any sense at all.

"But he Digivolved without me," Tai said.

"A digimon _can't _Digivolve without you. It doesn't work that way. The very fact that you were both there helped him Digivolve in order to protect you."

"But how?" the wild haired boy asked, "We were just goofy little kids and we didn't even have a Digivice."

"A Digivice is just a tool that was designed to help in the Digivolving process. It assists you by making you aware of your powers, but it's the special qualities in each of you that really makes it work. The same thing with the Crests. Can you tell me what your personal Crests really represent?" She asked them, meeting eyes with each of the children.

In response, the kids pulled their pendants from beneath their shirts, looking at the Crests they each held.

"Well, mine's Courage," Tai said, smiling down at his Crest.

"And this one means Love," Sora said next.

"Sincerity," Mimi chirped.

"And mine's Knowledge," Izzy grinned down at his purple crest.

"I've got Faith," Lucy said, looking at the white, glyphic flame.

"Reliability," Joe grinned.

"I know what this Crest means!" TK exclaimed happily, "It's Hope!"

"Well," Matt said reluctantly, looking at the blue crest in his hands, "Uh, mine is..." he trailed off.

"Uh, isn't it called Friendship?" Joe asked, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

The boy just ducked his head with a grimace. He wasn't even sure he believed in such a thing. Heck, that's why he'd been fighting Tai, trying to find out whether or not friendship was real or not.

"That's all true, but there's more to it than that," Kari said, "Each of you has strengths and weaknesses. We took each of your strongest qualities that you possessed four years ago, then we made a Crest for them."

"Oh! I get it," Tentomon said, nodding his head.

"If that trait is lost, then the digimon might become corrupted," the girl went on.

Tai gasped, thinking about something that matched what she was saying, "That happened! When I tried to make Agumon Digivolve by throwing myself in front of his enemy. But then something weird happened. He Digivolved in Skullgreymon. And now I've realized that was pretty foolish." Lucy shuddered at the memory. That Dark Digivolution was the reason she had the cool rasp to her voice, but she'd never felt fear like that before in her life. Not even during an earthquake.

"But the important thing is that you learned from it," Kari said, looking up at him.

Joe walked over to them then, saying, "All this time, we've been wracking our brains, trying to figure out stuff about ourselves that we already knew. Huh! That's a find howdy-do. Huh?" even as the eldest of the group spoke, Matt walked over to the glass display showing the digi-eggs, the Digivices and the Crests, a frown on his face as he looked down at the Crest of Friendsup and the white digi-egg with blue diamonds on it.

"Who knew?" Tsunomon said, looking up at his partner, hoping he was going to feel better soon. He didn't want to have to try to fight his friends again, especially not if Lucy was planning to jump into the crossfire again.

Matt then noticed that the others had converged before the glass case as well, Kari at the lead.

"Prodigious!" Izzy said with a hint of awe in his voice as he looked at the eggs, "I see why you chose Tai and Kari, but the rest of us had no contact with the digi-egg, so why us?"

"When we examined all your data, we came to the conclusion that you had something in common with Tai and Kari, but we're not quite sure what it means," the being said through Kari, "All we know is that you've proven yourselves to be very capable."

TK walked closer to the glass then, re-examining the eggs, "Who do these belong to, huh?"

"Isn't it obvious," the being asked with a smile.

"I have a feeling it's us," Patamon said.

"Yes," the being gave a nod.

"Wow," Palmon said, looking at the eggs with renewed awe, "Which one's me?"

"I think the answer's in the Crests," Tsunomon said, looking back at the eggs.

"Look, this is me!" Biyomon said, pointing to an orange egg with red hearts all over it.

"And that's mine!" Gomamon grinned, looking at the white egg with black spots right next to her.

"This one has gotta be you, Skymomon," Lucy said, looking at a dark blue egg that had bright green swirls on it.

"Yes, but I'm afraid I have bad news," the being said, "The Dark Masters have got wind of our plan and have worked very had to defeat us." Even as she spoke, a large doorway opened, releasing a horde of Machine type digimon into the lab. They came in two shades, copper and chrome, and none of them looked friendly.

The kids panicked and tried to run, but Izzy tripped. The machines were rapidly approaching and it was obvious that they couldn't get away now.

As such, Patamon moved to try and protect the children, "_Boom Bubble!_" the condensed ball of air slashed through the air at the evil digimon, then it cut through them. It had no effect what so ever. And when they walked through the flying digimon, it had no effect on him either. They weren't even there. Not at the present at least.

"Save your breath," the being said as the passed through her, "They're computer images."

Even as she spoke, the image of Lucas, Lucy's father, moved forward and started fighting while her mother, Serenity, started giving orders to the other Guardians.

"Protect the digi-eggs!" her voice was musical, lovely even in the desperation she was showing at the moment. She drew a sword and moved to engage one of the copper monsters, more still appearing and firing bombs at the hood wearing guardians. The huge, bald man picked up one of the chrome digimon and threw it at another, but three more appeared to take it's place.

Lucas was a storm of movement, protecting as many of his fellows as he could, grunting as he lashed out at them, but it was obvious he was tiring. Lucy gasped as she watched him take a blow to the back of the head, falling to the ground with blood pooling beneath him.

"Lucas!" Serenity cried, lashing out even more furiously with her sword in an attempt to get to her lover, but she fell pray to one of the bombs being fired about.

"Mom, dad," Lucy cried, tears, not happy ones, spilling out of her eyes again.

Tai was gritting his teeth, not only at seeing these people being hurt left and right, but at the sadness of one of his friends, "You mean just because they're computer images we have to sit back and do nothing?!" Matt could say what he wanted about Tai's obsession with fighting, but the boy would refuse to sit around and do nothing if he could help it.

Izzy came up beside him, his lap top open again, scanning the digimon that were attacking, "His name is Guardromon," he pointed towards the copper digimon, "He's a machine digimon and his armor is constructed of solid iron. Absolutely nothing can penetrate that can of beans." The digimon he scanned looked like a cross between a refrigerator and a submarine that grew arms and legs. It had dull green eyes in it's head piece that had no emotions as he proceeded to blow apart more Guardians.

"Here comes some more of them!" Matt shouted over the sounds of the battle as the large man and the small man with dreads were taken down and one of the chrome digimon turned to look in their direction. Mimi screamed, forgetting for a moment that they couldn't hurt her.

"This is no space age vacuum cleaner," Tentomon said, "Meet Mekanorimon! His Twin Beam will annihilate anything! Which makes housework a breeze." The digimon in question was, as mentioned, chrome in color, but had a large red jewel on its chest. It's arms and legs were long and ended in sharp blades. On it's back was what looked like a powerful motor and there was a blue dome on it's top.

It fired a blast of energy out of the red jewel on it's chest, deleting more Guardians, even the red headed one with freckles.

"Ah!" Joe cried, "Piedmon is here!"

Indeed, the evil jester was floating almost languidly through the death and destruction his minions were wreaking, right towards the display case for the eggs.

"Don't come any closer!" Joe quailed, trying to wave the Dark Master away from himself, "Shoo! Go away!"

Sora was standing next to him, a hand on her hip and an incredulous look on her face.

"Relax, he's just an image," Gomamon said, getting the boy's attention.

"Yeah, save your screaming for the real thing," Sora said dryly.

Once he was close enough to the display, Piedmon chuckled evilly, then held his hands beform him, focusing his power. The air rippled and the glass shattered.

"He's going to steal the Crests!" Tai exclaimed.

"Oh no!" Mimi cried.

Even as they spoke he floated ever closer, reaching into the display and grabbing the Tags and Crests all in one hand.

"Piedmon! Hands off those Crests!" A new comer shouted. His hood came off as he ran, a sword in his left hand, revealing a man with spiky, light brown hair that ended in a rat tail at the base of his skull and olive green eyes.

"Gennai," The evil clown greeted as if he hadn't just killed all of the man's friends.

"That man's Gennai?" TK asked in wonder, looking at the man in the beige robes, it was hard to see the old codger that they knew in the face of this energetic man.

The younger Gennai rushed forward, swinging his sword at the Dark Master with a battle cry in his throat. Unfortunately, the Mega digimon was just far too much for him. Piedmon dodged easily out of the way, moving behind the younger version of the Guardian they knew and pushing a dark sphere into his back with an evil laugh. What ever it was, it obviously was causing the man a lot of pain.

In his moment of weakness a Mekanorimon moved over to try and end him, but he was still too quick for it. He dodged the beam attack by jumping on it's head. Once there, he forced the dome open and pulled out the Bakemon that was operating the controls before jumping in himself.

He then turned the robot around, grabbed all the Digivices and eggs in one mechanical claw, and made a hole in the roof that he escaped through before the other machine digimon could stop him.

"Follow him! Don't let Gennai out of your sight!" Piedmon ordered the minions.

"Let's follow and see what happened in the past," the being inside of Kari said, lifting the group into the air again and following along as several of the evil machine digimon chased after the Guardian.

The Guardromon that were trailing him started firing off their wrist mounted missiles, the explosions rocking the machine Gennai had appropriated harshly until one of the eggs were knocked loose, falling to the earth below.

"That's my digi-egg!" Gatomon exclaimed, watching the pink egg with dark pink rings fall to the ground with despair in her eyes, "So that's why I was brought up all alone. That explains it."

Biyomon came over to the newest digimon in the group, "Cheer up!" she said with a smile, "We're together now!"

Gatomon couldn't help the smile on her face now. That was right. They were together now, and, most importantly, she had Kari with her, once and for all. She flew after her friend, feeling better.

The chase went on, crossing an entire ocean as Gennai tried to escape from the evil digimon following him until there was a familiar island in the distance.

"It's File Island," Tai pointed out, holding onto Koromon.

The being controlling Kari took the children to the island, landing them in the area that he'd left the eggs, "After Gennai took the eggs and Digivices, many years passed by, until finally..." The seasons passed. Spring, summer, fall, winter. Again and again in quick procession until one summer day the eggs started to shake and crack.

In particular an Orange egg with blue stripes cracked open to show the adorable little face of Botamon, "I was born," Koromon said, laughing lightly. Botamon and the other Baby level digimon bounced about for a little while, holding the Digivices in their mouths till they found a pleasant clearing. They then started bouncing the devices off their heads, laughing at the game they created.

"Oh, wow," Koromon said, "I remember that, it seemed like I waited forever for Tai."

"For Matt," Tsunomon said next.

"For Sora."

"For Joe."

"For Lucy."

"For Mimi."

"For TK."

"For Izzy."

Each individual digimon nuzzled into their partner, smiling brightly at the friend they had instinctively waited for, for all those years.

"I didn't think they would ever come," Koromon went on to say, "Then suddenly, from out of the blue," even as he spoke, the Digivices bounced off the digimon one last time before they disappeared into the sky, "They arrived with a bang!"

They got to watch as they arrived in the Digiworld and met their digimon for the first time, floating above the treeline again as the group ran through the forest on File Island, nostalgic smiles on their faces. Lucy in particular, having gotten over watching her parents die, was holding on hand to her chest, reveling in the warmth their, the pulse that let her know she was home, in the Digiworld, and remembered when she first felt it, what seemed so long ago.

"The question is, what exactly are the Dark Master's planning," the being said, "We have been working day and night, trying to find out. For now, all we can do is guess, and try and outwit them before something terrible happens."

"Whoa," Tai said in the face of all this new data as the rose up and away from the island, "Well, if that's true, what do we do now?"

"It's hard to say, but I believe you'll all find an answer on your own," the being told them, "I can do nothing more now except wish you luck and tell you that you are pivotal to the world's salvation, both of them. You must remember this, always."

The lighted area came back for a moment, before it receded, leaving the children in the forest, exactly where they had been when the bright light first over took the area. Kari was deep asleep on her back, breathing evenly.

Tai moved quickly to his sister's side, holding her in his arms as he waited for her to wake up.

The eight year old girl scrunched her nose cutely, then her eyes fluttered cutely as she opened her light brown orbs to look at the face of her brother and digimon.

"Hey," he said.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Gatomon asked softly, hoping nothing was wrong with her partner.

"Oh, hi there," she said simply, "What's wrong?"

"You came back!" Tai said with a relieved smile, it's mirror on the cat digimon's.

"We missed you," Gatomon said.

"Did it hurt?" Sora asked.

Lucy, her eyes a little puffy from the crying she'd been doing recently, just smiled as the girl sat up on her own.

"No," she stood up, looking around at everyone, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember?" Her bother asked placing a hand on her shoulder. Seeing the look of confusion on her face he shook his head with a smile, "Well, that's alright."

"Remember what, Tai?"

"Never mind, Kari, don't you worry about it," the twelve year old stood to his full height, turning to the blonde he had been fighting not even twenty minutes ago, "Well, Matt, there's now question about how we became the Digidestined. We saw it happen."

"Yeah, we sure did," the boy nodded, but there was still something sad in his eyes.

"So the entire world is depending on us," Tai said, then smile as he added, "And we all have to save it together!" he stepped up to the boy and held out his hand as a peace offering, "How 'bout it, Matt? Are we still a team?"

The blonde boy looked down, closing his eyes as he heaved a sigh.

"What's wrong?" TK asked, looking up at his brother.

"Hey, let's put the past behind us," Tai said, trying to tell the boy that he didn't hold any hard feelings for the fight they'd had earlier.

"I know, but you wouldn't understand," Matt said, looking back at Tai again before turning to walk away.

"Sure I do. I say you and I should let bygones be bygones," the wild haired boy tried.

"That's not the problem," Matt said, stopping after a few more steps.

"Then what is?" Lucy asked, "You've got the question of who and why you were chosen, and, if you're not holding a grudge from that fight from before, what's wrong?"

"This thing," the boy sighed, "It's bigger than met, Tai, all of us. I have my path, and you guys have yours," he looked towards the sky, "I'm not sure where it's going to lead me, but I know I have to get there by myself," they were all silent for a moment, then the blonde continued, "But I still believe in all of us. I mean, without any of you, where would I be?" Light seemed to break through the tree with this admission, but he still had more to say, "This is all just so confusing, and I let it get to me. That's why we fought," he looked back at Tai, briefly meeting the gaze of the pink haired member of their group, "It's important that you guys can count on me, but..." he took a deep breath and firmed his resolve, "I'm going to do this because I have to!" He held his fist before him, not in a sign of aggression, but strength, "I'll have Tsunomon with me, so I'll be alright. Don't worry. It'll be a lot better this way."

"Matt, if you approach this logically, I'm sure you'll reconsider your decision," Izzy tried to reason with him, "Your Crest. It's theme is to promote..." he trailed off, looking significantly at the older boy.

"Friendship, I know," Matt nodded, "But I haven't been too much of a friend, in case you haven't noticed," he smiled a little bit then, looking at Skymomon for a moment, "Maybe it's because I don't know the true meaning of the word, or maybe I've just forgotten."

"Here's a good idea," Sora began, "Let's break up into two groups, instead of one big one."

"I'm sorry, but I really need to do this alone," Matt said.

"Oh," Sora deflated a little, but she knew what it felt like when she had been avoiding the others. It was just something she'd had to do at the time, too. Sometimes... sometimes people needed their space from others. "Well, I believe in you, and I'm not gonna stand in your way," she smile encouragingly at him.

"What am I supposed to do without you, Matt?" TK asked, sounding every bit the little kid that he was at right that moment.

"You're a big kid now. You can take care of yourself, TK," the older blonde said, reminding the boy of what he'd told him before, that very day.

"Yeah, but..."

"Don't worry, we'll be here for you," Sora said, placing her hands on the eight year old's shoulders, "Besides, you know how big brothers are. They need their own space," she smiled, then look back at the other blonde again, "Everything will be fine."

TK finally cracked a hopeful smile, nodding as he looked at his older brother.

"We'll see ya," Matt nodded to his little brother then turned and began walking away, "Good bye, everyone." Those were the last words any of his friends would hear from him for some time. He simply walked off then, not looking back. If he did, he might be tempted to stay, and that wouldn't solve anything for him.

The group watched him go,wondering what would happen now. Unfortunately, one of their number had an idea of what they wanted to do now, and some of them weren't going to like it.

"We better move it, troops, we've got a world to save!" Tai said, leading them deeper into the forest to go after Puppetmon, "So, we're down one Digidestined, that's no problem. We can do it, right?"

At the back of the group, Mimi stopped walking, Palmon by her side.

"Hmm?" Sora looked back to see the only other girl her age standing in the middle of the path, not moving, "Mimi?"

"I'm sorry, Sora, Lucy, I'm not going," she said.

The two other girls approached her, questions on their faces, but Lucy let the older girl take the lead for now, "Why not? C'mon, what?"

"Well," Mimi closed her eyes and bowed her head, "I just don't want to see anybody else fight, or hurt themselves," she opened her eyes again, looking at both of the other girls before her, "I hope... you understand."

The others of the group looked at her, mouths open as they realized that yet another of their number was leaving them, not quite knowing how to react.

Except for Joe.

"Then I'm staying, too," he said strongly.

"But why?" Izzy asked.

"It's not safe for Mimi to be here all alone," the teen said simply enough, and no one could argue with that, "I'll make sure she's okay, and then, hopefully later, we can rejoin you guys, okay?" he asked Tai.

"Okay," the twelve year old said softly. He didn't want to push his views this time, and get anyone to do something they didn't want to. He just didn't have it in him to fight again right now. Not with another one of his friends. "Good luck, Joe," he smiled a little weakly.

"Thanks," the older boy smiled back, then ran over to stand next to Mimi.

"Wait for me!" Gomamon whined, hopping after his partner.

"Gee," Patamon said, hovering next to Biyomon, "it looks like we're all gonna be split up again."

"Just when we were finally all together," the pink digimon said sadly.

"You may think we're separated, but we're really not," Gatomon said as she moved next to the two flying digimon, "The roads might be different, but the place we end up in is the same. I mean, think about it. If they truly are the Digidestined, they're destined to be together once again. At least, That's the way I hope it works out."

As the two groups said their good byes, and Tai began to lead the other five that were staying with him away, Mimi called out to Lucy.

"Lucy!" she yelled, waving emphatically, "I'm still moving forward! I'm still walking! Just... in a different direction, for now!"

Lucy smiled, waving back at the pink hat wearing girl, "I know, I'll see you later, okay?" She smiled when Mimi nodded, then turned back, walking forward with the rest of the reduced group, feeling a little bit better about these splits. No matter what, they'd all meet up again later. She was sure of it.

Chapter Forty Two: End.

Please Enjoy.


	43. Chapter 43 Etemon's Comeback Tour

Chapter Forty Three: Etemon's Comeback Tour

The forest demesnes of Spiral Mountain was incredibly vast. Like the ocean that had drained away, it was practically a whole world on it's own. The digimon in it were vast in number, strange in appearance and mostly of the mind to obey Puppetmon. Those that didn't obey him were usually destroyed after playing one of his games. The rare few that were too powerful for such things were forced into hiding by the combined power of all the Dark Masters hunting them down.

Others, the rebellious few that refused to fall in line, but were not strong enough for the evil Megas themselves to worry about, were being actively hunted by the many, _many_ servants they had at their beck and call.

An explosion of dark purple power signaled one of the many that refused to fall, almost no matter the numbers that faced him. He was tall, but hunched, his skin was green, his hair was white, his mouth was full of sharp teeth and forever open in a snarl with two large tusks that curved out to the sides from his upper jaw. This was unmistakably Ogremon.

Ogremon felt like he had been fighting for years. Well, to be honest, he had. Years. Centuries. And it had nothing to do with the Dark Masters. But, right now, his annoyance was growing only more and more as the waves of minions Puppetmon controlled seemed to be almost never ending.

The creatures chasing him were right at home in the forest they were chasing him through. They were uniform in appearance, looking like a fallen log had sprouted legs and arms. A crack in the front formed a mouth and two knots broke open to show blue eyes set in the darkness of the interior of the digimon. They had, not one pair of legs, but several. Each of them two sets of arms, a smaller pair with four clawed fingers, then the much larger ones just above them were open at the end, like a wooden cannon.

Whirling to face them with his bone cudgel at the ready, Ogremon growled at them, "Get away from me, you pile of Woodmon!" he demanded, "I know your tricks, you pretend to be trees, then absorb the energy from unsuspecting digimon as they pass by," he accused, smashing the ones right before him with fist and cudgel, only making space for more to show up, "This is your last warning!"

The ever growing horde of evil digimon growled at him, not the least bit intimidated.

"Alright, you asked for it," he grumbled as he waded into them, swinging his fists and feet and cudgel to great effect, splintering their bodies and reciting a cruel rhyme as he smashed through them, "How many Woodmon could an Ogremon chuck if an Ogremon could chuck Woodmon?"

They fell by the dozens as he moved through them, but more popped up before the others had even finished falling. His instincts and reflexes, honed through countless years of fighting, allowed him to avoid even a single blow from the digimon he was fighting. When he found himself surrounded he focused some of his dark energies into his left fist and thrust it forward, sending another dark purple blast of energy forward.

"_Pummel Whack!_" the attack smashed into one of the many Woodmon, before exploding outwards and momentarily making an opening for him to escape through. Even as good as he was, he still couldn't fight endlessly, surrounded on all sides. He had to find a more advantageous spot to continue this fight.

The Woodmon were not just going to let him run away, though. They chased after him, doggedly pursuing him every step of the way, just as they had been since earlier that very day.

Ogremon looked back over his shoulder for only a moment, seeing the wall of digimon trying to overtake and destroy him, "They sure run fast for tree stumps!"

+-9

It had only been a couple of hours since the group had split up, the beautiful sky of the Digiworld beginning to color in the oranges, pinks, and yellows of the setting sun. Mimi, Joe and their digimon had sat down after walking for a while, having no particular destination in mind.

They decided to make it a break for food since their digimon were holding their stomachs with the pangs of hunger they were feeling. When they first arrived in this world, so long ago on File Island, there would have been no way for them to Digivolve so often as they did in this day alone. Heck, back then, when it all first started, the digimon were lucky if they could do it twice every three days. Now, in one day, they had evolved four times before the sun had even set. Gomamon had done it five times, feeling his hunger from expending so much energy more than anyone else.

As such, he was very happy for the bountiful fruit that was all throughout the area, especially the nice red apple he'd just taken a large bit out of.

"Thish ish good!" he mumbled through his mouthful of apple.

The pink hat wearing girl wasn't quite feeling so chipper, even with the food right before them. She hadn't even bitten in to her first apple. She was thinking back over the events of the day. Thinking of the words of her friends. Sora and Lucy had told her to keep moving forward. They told her she didn't have to fight, but, to honor the memories of her fallen friends, they had to keep moving forward. Tai said that this was a war. That sometimes people they liked wouldn't be alright by the time it was done. Matt said that they had to take time to remember those they'd lost.

They were all right, she knew. But was she right, too? Was it okay for her to step away from the fighting? Was it okay for her to pull Joe away from everyone else? Was she doing the right thing, here?

"Joe," she said softly, her head still bowed, "Can I tell you something?"

"What?" the boy asked, not really focusing on her as he picked up another apple and took a bite of it. His own thoughts were in quite a jumble. The group, the people he had come to know and rely on, was split up now. He had to be responsible. No, he had to be Reliable. He was kind of surprised to find the strength inside him to do this.

"I hope I wasn't being too selfish for saying I didn't want to fight anymore," the girl said softly.

Joe looked at her then, swallowing the last bite he'd taken as he thought about what she just said.

"I don't think you were selfish," he told her, "In fact, I think you were pretty brave. What you said was true, fighting just leads to more fighting and nothing ever gets resolved," he took a breath then said, "My brother, Jim, used to say the same thing after he'd get beat up," he sighed then, adjusting his glasses as he looked up at the sky, the rend between the Digiworld and the human world showing part of the earth through the even clouds.

"Joe," Mimi asked, looking up at him when he heaved that sigh, "What is it, Joe?"

He didn't answer for a moment, thinking about his brother and his family back home. He hoped that, when he decided what to do with his life, be it a doctor or even a violin polish maker, he could stand up for his beliefs then the way Jim was standing for his now.

"It's nothing," he said lowly, "Never mind," he took his eyes off the sky and looked down at the ground.

Gomamon turned to his partner, worry in his tone as he said, "Joe."

"What?" the teen asked, looking at the digimon.

"Don't keep things bottled up inside. It's not healthy."

Joe rose to his feet suddenly, a slight frown on his face, "Don't tell me about not being healthy. I've been not healthy my whole life, so I'm an expert, and if I want to keep things bottled up, I will!"

"Whoa," the little digimon said, "Looks like somebody needs a time out in the corner. I was just trying to lend a friendly ear."

The blue haired teen sighed again, Mimi and Palmon watching the two with a little apprehension, hoping another argument wasn't about to break out.

"I know you were, Gomamon," Joe said, smiling apologetically, "Sorry, buddy."

Just then, something began to blot out the light from the sun, coming with the sound of rushing air, caused the quartet to look up into the sky. What they found was a black cloud of broken, corrupted data.

"What is that thing?" Palmon asked.

No answer from the other was forth coming as the cloud swelled outwards then shrank back on itself, compacting into a ball then disappearing. But it left something behind.

"It looks like a meteorite!" Joe exclaimed.

Indeed, streaking towards the ground of the Digiworld, a fiery mass of wires was giving off streaks of black energy as it fell. Like Joe had said, it greatly resembled a meteorite. The whistling roar of its passage through the air began to grow to deafening levels.

Then the blue haired teen figured out something a little frightening, "Look out!" he cried, "It's coming this way!" He ushered Mimi and the digimon away from their current spot and into the trees around them.

+-9

Some distance away, unaware of the event about to happen, Ogremon was still trying to find somewhere optimal to fight the Woodmon. If he were a lesser digimon, he might be huffing and puffing from the long run he'd been on. And things weren't about to get better for him any time soon.

Bursting out of the tree line, he slowed to a halt as he realized he had come right up to a cliff. He almost cursed as he realized not only had he _not_ found a better spot to fight them, but he'd also made it _easier_ for them to take him down. All they had to do was sit there and fire their attack at him until he was either forced off the cliff or fell to massive damage.

He nearly cursed again when he heard the evil digimon pouring out of the trees behind him.

"I can't get rid of you guys!" he complained, "You're not trees, you're weeds!" he looked at the smirking faces of the Woodmon and his eyes began to narrow slightly, "It can't all end like this, not before I beat Leomon!" He was just about decide leaping into the horde of digimon and going down swinging was the only way to do it.

But before he could the roar of the meteor filled the air. Even the Woodmon were aware that something was going on now, turning their gazes skyward to see the fiery object streaking straight towards them.

"What in the world?!" Ogremon yelped just half a second before the meteor hit.

Luckily for the green digimon, he was just far enough outside of the blast range that he was only blasted off his feet and down the cliff side. The Woodmon were no nearly so lucky, the entire horde being deleted by the explosion of the meteor landing, quite literally, right in the middle of them. The light of the explosive landing was so blindingly bright that it was almost a pure white, temporarily bleaching the color out of the world around it.

It was so powerful that it sent the ground rumbling violently for miles and miles in all directions.

+-9

In one particular direction, the path that Tai's group had taken to be specific, was just starting to feel the rumbling of the dirt beneath their feet. This was enough to have Lucy gripping onto a tree for dear life, choking back a squeal of fear.

As the vibrations grew only more intense the other kids found themselves copying this action. After a few seconds of this, Lucy couldn't hold in her scream completely, letting out a cute little 'eep' sound. If the situation was less horrifying the others might have giggled at the sound the ten year old made.

As it was, they were too busy holding onto trees as well to be giving her a friendly ribbing.

"What's happening?" Sora yelled her question over the sound of the world shaking.

Finally, and before anyone could answer, the vibrations came to an end.

"Oh, thank goodness," Lucy breathed, sinking to her knees rather limply, "I'm getting too old for this," she said, putting a hand to her chest to feel the rapid thumping of her heart.

"But, Lucy, aren't you only ten?" Skymomon asked.

"And that's what makes it worse," the pink haired girl agreed.

"Was that some sort of explosion?" Tai asked after the shaking stopped.

"An earthquake?" Izzy speculated.

"A meteor!" Tentomon told them, "And I mean a whopper! It just crashed in the forest!" he lowered from the sky.

"Totally cool!" Tai grinned, "Let's go check it out!"

Sora didn't quite have his enthusiasm, "I don't know, Tai, it could be dangerous."

"Yeah," TK said, standing up with Patamon in his arms, "Let's head over to Puppetmon's mansion instead."

"We'll show you guys exactly where it is," Patamon added.

"I suppose it's inevitable," Izzy said, "He's one of the Dark Masters and we'll have to fight him, sooner or later."

"Yeah," Gatomon, standing in a group with Biyomon, Koromon and Tentomon, "It's time somebody cut his strings. Instead of waiting around here, let's take the fight to him for a change. If we don't hurry up I'm afraid both our worlds will be destroyed."

"I gotta jump on this band wagon," Lucy said, finally standing up with Skymomon over her shoulder as usual, "I think you had it right, Tai. We have to stop the Dark Masters, before anyone else gets hurt by them."

"Let's do it, Tai," Kari added, tugging on the hem of her brother's shirt.

The wild haired boy just crossed his arms and closed his eyes, humming to himself in deep thought, weighing his options.

"Wait a second, you guys," Sora interjected, "Let's think this over. Puppetmon is a Mega digimon and we wont be able to defeat him that easily."

"Oh, in that case let's give up and go watch cartoons!" TK almost snapped at her with a frown on his face.

"Let's fight!" Patamon said next.

"The only fair thing to do is take a vote," Izzy said logically, "All those in favor of going to Puppetmon's mansion, raise your hand and say 'aye'."

"_AYE!_" TK, Izzy, Kari, Lucy, Skymomon, Koromon, Tentomon, Patamon and Gatomon all said together, throwing their various appendages up into the air.

Sora, Biyomon and, surprisingly, Tai were the only ones who didn't vote fore it.

"The 'aye's have it," the tech genius said, lowering his hand with the others.

"Tai, you didn't vote," Sora pointed out, hoping the boy was really thinking about what the consequences might be this time.

'_I wonder how Matt would vote. Knowing him, he'd probably go the safe route,_' Tai thought.

"So, Tai, what do you think?" TK asked, gaining the boy's attention.

The wild haired preteen looked at the small blonde and another thought crossed his mind, '_And what about TK? With Matt not here, it's my job to make sure nothing happens to him._'

"What should we do, Tai?" Kari urged him to make a decision. She'd never seen her brother so hesitant to make a choice before. Usually, he'd just jump right in, head first as usual. It was just his way.

"Well, uh..." the boy stumbled over his decision, not sure what to do.

"Tai, we believe in you," Lucy added, "We know you'll pick the right thing."

"I... uh... I think..."

Sora was just watching this, hoping, _praying_, he didn't make the rash choice.

"We're waiting for an answer," Tentomon pitched in, buzzing by.

'_After all we've been through, he can't really be thinking about going,_' Sora thought silently.

Finally, Tai uncrossed his arms and smiled at the group before him, "Alright, we're going, but just to take a look around. We don't, necessarily, have to start any trouble."

"_Alright!_" everyone but Sora said with a grin.

"It's this way, guys," TK said, turning around and beginning to jog in the direction of the mansion. Everyone, aside from Sora, immediately followed until they realized said girl wasn't moving with them.

"Sora?" Tai questioned, looking back at her.

She looked up at him, doubt in her brown eyes, "I'll go along with your decision, but I'm still not sure it's safe."

"I know it's dangerous, Sora, and we're not looking for trouble," the boy told her, "But, if anything happens, Koromon and I will hold off Puppetmon while you take the others and escape. I wont let anything happen to you."

"You mean it?" she asked, some of the doubt about his decision beginning to leave her.

"'Course I do!" he nodded curtly.

"Okay then," the girl said, moving with Tai as the boy turned around and they resumed their trek to the mansion.

+-9

The crater that resulted from the crash of the ball of fire was, comparatively, small. Smoke almost completely obscured whatever it was that landed, but it did nothing to stop the voice of the creature that was standing up from within it.

Had any of the Digidestined been nearby to hear the voice, dread might have filled their hearts when they realized the voice was familiar.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the deep voice was almost brimming with glee, "boys and girls, get ready for the come back tour of the year! Baby, I'm back!" A dark silhouette could be seen through the smoke of someone standing and flexing their arms above them, "Ahuh! Yeah!"

+-9

Mimi and Joe had decided to go investigate the meteor. The path they took through the forest ended up with them at the bottom of a cliff face while the smoke rose into the air from the top of said cliff.

"Look, there it is!" Joe pointed out, bringing both Mimi and their digimons' attention to the pillar of smoke, "The meteor landed up on that cliff!"

"I wonder where on earth it could have come from," Mimi said.

"Probably L.A.," Palmon suggested, getting an odd look from Joe.

"Huh," Gomamon intoned suddenly, sniffing at the ground.

"What?" the plant digimon asked, bringing all the attention to him now.

"I smell something," the seal said then suddenly leapt off, "From over there!"

"Wait!" Joe exclaimed as Palmon immediately followed his digimon leaving to two humans to play catch up.

"Hey," Mimi cried, falling behind, "not so fast! I might sweat!"

"And I keep tripping on my roots," Palmon whined next, falling behind the seal digimon.

Luckily, it was long before the broke through the local flora to a small clearing where they saw somebody under a heavy pile of branches. It didn't take a genius to figure out that somebody had fallen off of the cliff above and straight through the tree canopy, breaking every branch they hit on the way down.

"I think someone's hurt," Palmon said.

"Hang in there! We're coming!" Gomamon exclaimed.

"We've gotta get these branches off of him," Palmon said as she was the first to move forward and started brushing aside the branches, revealing a green face that none of them were too happy to see, "Ogremon! Yikes!" the plant digimon bounced backwards to be out of his immediate range should he wake up. She barely even recognized the red streak running down his face as blood until she took a second look, "We better get out of here before he wakes up!"

But it was too late for that, Ogremon shifted, trying to push himself to his feet, but he only managed to move a few inches and a cry in pain, gripping his left arm with his right, revealing where he had felt the most pain as he collapsed back to the ground.

"I think he's hurt," Mimi gasped.

"Good, then he wont be able to chase us!" Gomamon said, preparing to get away before the monster got back to his feet.

"Remember him from File Island?" Joe asked, stepping in front of Mimi to protect her should it be necessary, "He was meaner than a cat getting a bath. Let's pretend like we never found him."

Even as he made the suggestion Mimi was moving around him and going to the aide of the beast.

"Hey, Mimi!" the blue haired teen cried as she kneeled at the green digimon's side and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe at the blood and try to clean the wounds, "What are you doing?"

"This cut looks bad," was her only explanation as she dabbed at the blood on Ogremon's forehead. She jumped a little bit when the monster growled in his pain, standing away from him as his blue eyes opened.

For a couple of moments, he just glared at whoever it was that had come near him, but as his eye sight cleared, he was surprised to see a human face looking down at him. His eyes widened in realization.

"You're the Digidestined."

"Well, I guess you don't have amnesia," Mimi quipped, "but try not to move, anyway, okay?" with that she kneeled beside him again and started dabbing at his wounds again, "Palmon, look for some healing herbs and, Gomamon, look for some water."

"Right!" the two digimon said together as they ran off to complete their assigned tasks.

"Joe, I want you to-" She turned to face him, but the boy interrupted her.

He gave a shrug and an exasperated smile as he said, "I know. My father is a doctor and he taught me a lot. I used to practice on my toys."

"Toys?" Ogremon asked incredulously as he pushed himself up, but collapsed back to the ground in pain.

"I told you not to move," Mimi scolded the giant green monster that could crush her on any other day of the week.

"Okay," he said almost petulantly.

Soon enough, after the digimon had returned and Joe had gotten a run down of all the major injuries that the monster had accumulated, they moved him to the base of a tree where they began to actually treat him.

"Ow!" Ogremon cried in pain as Mimi applied disinfectant to one of the cuts on his shin, "That stuff burns! Be careful!"

"Big baby," the twelve year old teased, "Don't you want to get better?"

At the same time, Joe was making a splint for the digimon's arm, making sure it was tight enough to hold the bones in place as he explained what needed to happen next, "It looks like his arm might be broken, we're going to have to put it in a sling," he turned to the blue duffel bag he'd brought with him to the Digiworld this time and unzipped it to look for something he could use to make said sling, then grinned widely as he noticed a rather important bit of survival gear, "Ooh! Toilet Paper!" He reached for one of the three visible rolls.

"Do you have to do that now?" the pink hat wearing girl asked a little incredulously.

"Really, Mimi," he rolled his eyes, already wrapping it around the splint, "I'm using it as bandages. Before we came back to the digital world, I thought of things we might need, and toilet paper was the first thing that came to my mind," he grinned, "There, just about finished here," he tied it off, then looked to the green digimon before him, "Well?"

"Feels soft," Ogremon marveled, "It must be two ply."

Finally, to finish it off, Joe pulled a sheet he'd packed from his back and used it to make the sling. He made sure it was nice and supportive for Ogremon's left arm before he stepped back to admire his work.

"There, lay off the digivolving for a few days and you'll be as good as new!" He smiled and tapped the monster's left shoulder.

"Ow!" Ogremon cried. That shoulder was still sensitive!

"Joe, I never knew you were so resourceful," Mimi marveled with a bright smile.

Before the boy could reply to that, Ogremon had a question, "Why are you Digidestined being so nice to me? Especially after the way I tried to destroy you on File Island," he looked up at the two children that were his enemies at one time, "You could have left me here to rot, but instead you saved me. Why?"

"Well, we were taught that if someone is in trouble, you always help them out. That means even if they were trying to pummel you into oblivion," the girl said with her hands on her hips.

"Gee, I never thought of it that way. Thanks!" He stood up then, grabbing his spiked bone cudgel as he did. It was then, as they were standing before him that one got a scope of how large this lanky, but powerful, digimon actually was. When he had been sitting down, his back against the tree, he had already been taller than them, but getting to his feet had him towering over them completely. "I owe you one," he said to them.

"Don't mention it," Mimi said with a smile, "Besides, that's what friends do, they help each other out."

"Bye," Joe said as he, Mimi and their digimon turned to walk away now, sure that the green digimon wouldn't want them around any longer now that he'd been treated.

"Wait, don't leave now," the green digimon called, sucking in a breath that have sounded like a sob, "I've..." he bowed his head as they stopped walking, "never had any friends."

Mimi smiled widely as she whirled around, "Well, you have them now!"

Ogremon looked up at her, tears dripping from the corner of his eyes, but they could tell they were tears of happiness. He and Mimi just looked into one another's eyes for a little bit, marveling at their new friend, each of them.

"I've never seen an Ogremon cry before," Gomamon commented with tilted head.

"Don't tell me you need more toilet paper to blow your nose," Joe said with a joking smile.

Ogremon didn't get it though, dragging his black, spiked bracer on his forearm across his face as he said, "It's alright, I'll just use my sleeve."

"That's gotta hurt, with all those spikes," an unwelcome voice said.

"Huh?" the group intoned as they turned as one to look up at the interloper.

"Here's a riddle," Puppetmon said as he stood with his back to the Digidestined on a branch in the trees above, "What has four strings and is made of wood?"

"_Puppetmon!_" Joe, Mimi and their digimon cried.

He turned around to face them even as Gomamon got into a defensive position before his partner, "No, a violin. But that's a good guess. I guess you guys aren't music lovers."

"No, it's you we don't like!" Gomamon snapped at the evil digimon.

"Oh yeah?" Puppetmon frowned, pointing his hammer at the seal digimon, "Do you like this?" dozens of little yellow blasts of energy shot out at the little digimon on the ground, forcing him to run for his data, "I can also play a really mean saxophone."

"I've gotta Digivolve!" Palmon said, glaring up at the evil digimon.

"But," Mimi gasped, envisioning her precious friend falling to the might of the evil wooden digimon. She could hardly bear the thought. '_Oh no! What if Togemon get's hurt during the fight?_' she could hardly bare the thought.

"Gomamon, Digivolve!" Joe ordered, stepping forward with one fist held up to the evil Dark Master that was attempting, yet again, to destroy them.

"Right!" the little digimon agreed and leapt forward into the air as the energy of evolution filled him, "Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!" He wasted not a second, moving his much bulkier form just beneath the tree the Mega was standing in and firing off his special attack, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" The missile flew the short distance through the air and exploded on the branch, but the evil digimon had easily jumped out of the range of the blast.

He landed back on the remains of the tree, laughing at their pitiful attempt to destroy him. He didn't notice it as Joe's crest began to glow. He did notice it however when the symbol of Reliability was absorbed into the Champion digimon, allowing him to evolve to Ultimate.

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve to Zudomon!"

Puppetmon jumped at the more powerful form of one of his most annoying adversaries, swinging his hammer back, "Take this! _Puppet Pummel!_"

Zudomon gripped his own massive war hammer in both hands and swung it with all his considerable might, "_Vulcan's Hammer!_"

For a moment, as the attacks met, hope bloomed in the hearts of Joe and Mimi, thinking that maybe they might have gotten lucky. But that wilted quickly when Zudomon's hammer went flying off into the jungle and the extreme power of the attack, while not quite enough to delete him, forced the Ultimate digimon back into his Rookie stage.

Puppetmon laughed maliciously as he lifted his hammer again, "Don't tell me play time's over!" he smirked at the two Digidestined that had separated from the main group.

Lady Luck was, if anything, an unforgiving mistress. She cared not who she blessed or cursed. And sometimes, she did both at once.

Before Puppetmon could move on the children and hit them with his Puppet Pummel, a loud, almost musical call echoed around the forest. Joe recognized the call, and some dread filled him at the voice, too. He recognized it, somewhat, and, as they saw a figure swinging on vines through the forest, that dread only grew. He didn't know that the arrival of this new menace would actually save their hides.

Again and again the musical, Tarzan like call filled the air.

It annoyed the little Dark Master after only the second call, "Alright, already!"

Finally, the figure moved into their visual range. He dropped off the vine onto a branch that let him look over the clearing with the others. He turned around, striking a body builder pose.

"Get digi with it! Metaletemon, in the house!" The digimon that spoke was undoubtedly Etemon, but vastly changed from what he once was. Etemon was a skinny orange monkey digimon that was a wannabe rock star. This new version of the old enemy was bulging with muscle, his skin and fur had become a shiny, silvered metal that covered from head to toe and on the top of his head, he had a metal pompadour of hair. Across his broad chest were red, Japanese characters that mean 'Strongest' and a black teddy bear plush toy was on his waist. His dark sunglasses had turned into a black visor over his eyes and his teeth were a sickle yellow color.

The evil digimon stood there, making poses that had his muscles bulging and glinting in the waning sun light.

"Who's that guy?" Puppetmon demanded.

"A superstar, like me, deserves a little applause, baby," the metal monkey said with a wide, yellowed grin, clapping his own hands at his arrival, "After all, it's been so long since we've seen each other."

"Oh no! It's Etemon!" Joe cried. He really did not need this. Not now.

"I used to be Etemon, kid, but that was a long time ago," the monkey struck another pose, "Now, I'm Metaletemon! Thank, thank you very much!"

"We thought Etemon was tough? Metaletemon's a Mega digimon!" Gomamon informed them, "After his Banana Slip attack you'll have to peel us off the floor."

"Just what we need," Palmon groaned, "New and unimproved."

None of this seemed to ruin the good mood that the evil digimon was in, "Let me tell you how I became me," he turned away from them for a second, then turned back around, singing the first part of his story, "_Now, here's what transpired, when Etemon expired! _Listen up, Baby! I'm sure you all remember the battle I had with Metalgreymon. I tell you, he's one tough dinosaur, honey.

"After that, I was swallowed up by a black hole! I think I gave it indigestion. My digital information was scattered throughout the universe! I pulled myself together and chilled out for a while, in digimon limbo. My information was chopped, mixed, whipped and pureed! I felt like a four speed blender, honey. I refused to return to the digital world until I was bigger, badder and had a full head of beautiful, metal hair! Now, I'm back to get my revenge on YOU, Digidestined!" he started singing again, then, but Puppetmon interrupted him.

"Enough!" the wooden digimon shouted, moving to stand before this newcomer.

"I just got started, there, you oversized foot stool!" Metaletemon snapped at Puppetmon, jumping down from his branch as Ogremon, Joe, Mimi and the others pulled their hands away from their ears after he stopped singing.

"Who you calling oversized?!" the Dark Master demanded as he stepped forward.

"Watch your step," the metal monkey said as he lifted an old banana peel in his right hand then hurled it at Puppetmon's feet, "_Banana Slip!_"

The Dark Master stepped right onto the peel and slipped off his feet with cry of surprise.

"Too much of a waxy buildup? Ahuhuh!" Metaletemon laughed at the other Mega.

Puppetmon wouldn't stand that for long though, sitting up and swinging his hammer at the metal digimon's shin, "_Puppet Pummel!_"

"Ah!" Metaletemon gripped his shin and bounced in place from the pain, "I'll use you as a toothpick!" he then pounced at the Dark Master, but Puppetmon just jumped up and out of the way.

When he landed he turned around and fired more of the same yellow blasts that he'd used before on Gomamon. Metaletemon didn't bother to dodge though, just thrusting on hand forward and letting the energy blasts bounce of his metal hide.

"_Metal Punch!_" the monkey then lashed forward with a left straight that smashed into the wood digimon's face, sending him reeling back.

"You fight dirty!" Puppetmon accused.

Metaletemon moved forward to stand right before the puppet with his hands on his hips, "I'm not dirty, I just got detailed at the car wash yesterday."

Puppetmon just frowned at him and unleashed a wave of energy from his hammer at the metal monkey.

Unnoticed by either Mega, Joe began pushing Mimi away from the battle, "This is our chance to escape," he told her, and it was long before they, their digimon and Ogremon were beating a hasty retreat from the escalating fight behind them.

Back with the two Megas, Puppetmon taunted his opponent while he stood just in front of a tree, "Na na na nana!" He dodged just to the side in time to avoid another Metal Punch, but the tree wasn't so lucky. It cracked along it's base, then fell over onto the metal monkey, momentarily pinning him to the ground.

He only growled angrily when he heard the Dark Master's annoying laughter at his predicament.

+-9

After a small hike, TK and Patamon had lead the group straight to the mansion that Puppetmon was using as his base of operations. Before they could get too close, Tai stopped them, earning him some points with Sora as he didn't just run in there all half cocked. Instead, he pulled out his telescope, surveying the residence from a safe distance.

"So, that's Puppetmon's mansion, huh?" He moved his view off the house itself to inspect the grounds in front of it and gasped quietly when he saw two digimon, "There are two guards," he whispered, pulling his Digivice off his belt as he turned to Izzy, "See who they are."

The tech genius, who already had his laptop open in case they ran into a new digimon, took the Digivice and plugged it into the slot, bringing up the two new profiles on his computer, "Let's analyze it," he said, going to the first profile, "One of them is Floramon. She's a plant type digimon who Digivolves like a reptile. Her attack is Rain of Pollen," the digimon shown on the screen looked like an alternate form of Palmon. It had the same body, legs, and tail, but the arms and head were different. The arms ended in purple flowers in the place of hands, and over the head red petals lay across it's forehead like a helmet, " And the other guard is..." he paused to pull up the next page, "Deramon. At first glance it looks like a bird type digimon, but it's actually got a plant growing out of it's back. Prodigious," Deramon did indeed look like a bird, with a few minor differences. It had the peak, the feathered body and the wings, but it was also wearing a red bow tie, red and white shoes, and a golden crown on its head. The bush at it's back was large, green, and had pink flowers interspersed all over it.

"So, their not Ultimate digimon, right?" Tai asked as Izzy handed him his Digivice.

"Right," the tech genius nodded.

"None the less, we should be careful," Tentomon said, "They could be quite dangerous," he spread his insectoid wings and hovered upwards, "Shall we go?"

"Wait!" the wild haired boy ordered as the beetle landed before TK, Kari, Lucy and their digimon.

"What's up?" Lucy asked, wondering why they weren't going ahead.

"There might be more guards inside," Tai said, getting nods from the three of them, with Sora and Izzy at either side of him.

"He's got a point," Skymomon nodded her head.

"Here's how we do this," their leader began, "I'll go inside and make sure the coast is clear. You guys wait here until I get back."

Lucy frowned at that. That did not sound like a good plan to her. And she wasn't the only one to think so, either.

"Tai, I think Patamon and I should go with you," TK said, then backed up his argument with logic, surprisingly, "After all, we're the only ones who know where everything is inside there."

"Right!" Patamon agreed with a smile.

"Sorry, it might be dangerous," Tai shook his head.

"C'mon, Tai, don't treat me like a little kid!" the blonde boy complained.

"That's not it," the wild haired boy said, crossing his arms and bowing his head.

"What if we go together, as a team," Kari suggested with a smile.

Lucy nodded at that, "I agree with that. We're stronger in a group."

"I vote with Kari and Lucy," Izzy said, lifting one hand into the air with a matching smile on his face, "There's nothing to be afraid of if we all go together." The small smile on Sora's face at Izzy's declaration could be considered her ascent to this idea as well.

"What do we do, Tai? You decide," Koromon urged his partner.

The twelve year old boy gave it only another second of thought before he opened his dark brown eyes on the group, "Alright, everyone," he grinned, "We're going! Follow me!"

+-9

Back in the forest, an odd show was going on for any digimon that might stop to see it. Metaletemon, Mega, metal skinned digimon, was smashing himself in the face with his own hands rather hard.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" the monkey grunted, before he began to do an odd little dance that had him continuously smacking his own face with both hands at once, "Hey! Cut it out! Ah! Ow!" If one looked closely, they would see light glinting off the ultra thin wires that Puppetmon was using to control the metal monkey.

And you'd only need to look a little bit above Metaletemon to see the Dark Master in question, laughing at his torment of his victim. He was wiggling his fingers and moving his hands, completely controlling the movements of the digimon on the ground.

Suddenly, on the ground, Metaletemon fell over, laughing raucously as he began to tickle his own sides, "Hey, quit it! I hate ticklin! C'mon!"

Puppetmon didn't even think of letting up, "Now I can finally take care of those kids," he mumbled to himself as he finally looked over to where the Digidestined had been when this fight with the monkey had started. His hands fell to his sides in surprise when all he found was the empty air in the spot they once stood. "They're gone!" he exclaimed.

With his fingers no longer controlling the strings, Metaletemon was finally free to move on his own, "It's your fault, you piece of rotted drift wood!" the monkey yelled up to him as he moved a little bit away then snapped with controlling wires of his body.

"You recycled tin can!" the Dark Master insulted back.

"Big, dumb knot hole!"

The two digimon leapt at each other, but Puppetmon proved to be the more agile as he flipped over Metaletemon and kicked him in the back, sending him face first into a tree.

Regaining his composure, the metal monkey turned to face his adversary, only to find him leaving.

"Hey! Where ya goin'?"

"Home. You're lousy at Name Calling," the wooden digimon said as he kept walking.

"Oh yeah?" the other Mega challenged, "Well, I'm Metal, you're Wood, whatever you say bounces off of me and splits you in half!" Other than that, though, the evil digimon didn't chase after the Dark Master, instead, turning to run off to the side, looking for the two Digidestined that had gotten away from him earlier, "Who needs him, anyway? I can find those kids myself. After all, I am the ultimate metal detector."

+-9

Back with Tai's group, they had finished planning how to deal with the two guards stationed outside the mansion.

"Let's go!" Koromon said, then Digivolved into Agumon. With that done, the yellow dino and Tentomon quickly moved forward before the other two digimon even knew what was going on.

"_Super Shocker!_" the orangish lightning struck the Flora mon just as Agumon positioned himself to fire at Deramon.

"I'll get him," the dinosaur said as he took a deep breath, "_Pepper Breath!_" the fire ball streaked forward and all but toasted the birdlike digimon.

When the brief inferno died down, the bird like digimon was glaring at the Digidestined and there digimon and he spoke with an undoubtedly male voice, "If you wanted fried chicken, you could have asked!"

"Sorry," Agumon said a little sheepishly when he noticed the two digimon weren't trying to fight back against them, "We thought you guys were out here protecting Puppetmon's mansion."

"Oh, so you barbecue me," the bird grumbled.

"We're not here protecting anything," Floramon said next in a feminine voice.

"Then what are you guys doing?" TK asked as he stepped forward with Patamon in his arms.

"Well, We're supposed to be Puppetmon's playmates," Deramon explained, "You know, someone to chase around and attack when he gets bored. But let me fill you in on a little secret," the bird moved closer to TK, holding his wings to other side of his beak as he talked in a slightly lower tone, "Puppetmon is an obnoxious jerk, and none of us around this place can stand him."

"Oh, yeah," the blonde boy said, "Now I remember. Puppetmon doesn't have any friends, even though he thinks he does."

"Yeah, that's right," Patamon said.

"Wow," Kari said, "What could be worse than having a life without a single friend?"

"A litter box lined with Fly Paper," Gatomon suggested with her paws on her hips. This reply was delivered so unexpectedly and with such seriousness that Kari and the others couldn't help but break out into laughter at the thought of it.

"You are too much, Gatomon," Lucy said, scratching the cat behind her ears, getting her to purr.

Tai grinned for a moment before focusing on the problem at hand again, "So, is Puppetmon inside the house, right now?"

"I think he's out being fumigated for termites," Deramon said, knowing that the Dark Master wasn't home, but not knowing where he was.

"So, what should we do Tai?" Agumon asked, looking up at his partner.

"Well, now's a good chance to take a look inside the mansion," the human boy suggested.

"Deramon, will you show us around?" TK requested of the birdlike digimon with the bush growing out of its back.

"Sure," the digimon said with a shrug, "I used to be a tour guide at Digimon Studios," He turned around with Floramon right beside him and began to lead the kids into the mansion, then he stopped and turned back to look at them, "Oh, no video cameras, flash photography, food, or drink are allowed during the tour."

"_Great, let's go!_" The whole group said as one.

Once again leading the way, Deramon began to go into the history of the house, actually capturing Lucy's attention as they walked. She'd always liked tours on the field trips they'd taken over the years.

"The main structure was built before the Digital Revolution..."

+-9

Elsewhere and far away, Metaletemon was still swinging through the trees, occasionally stopping to land on the branch of a tree to try and spot his targets. So far, no luck. He was started to get a little annoyed at this.

"How hard can it be to find a bunch of kids?" he grumbled. With another Tarzan call, he grabbed a vine and swung away, not knowing how close he was to finding them.

In the hollowed out trunk of a very large tree, Ogremon and the others were hiding out, hoping they could stay out of sight until they completely lost the blast from their past.

"So," Mimi began, turning to their new companion, "does it still hurt?"

"Actuall, no, not really," Ogremon said, sounding surprised, "I need to know how I could ever thank you all."

"Oh, forget about it," the girl smiled at the big, green digimon, "You don't need to thank us."

"No, I have to!" the digimon insisted, "It's an ancient tradition, to repay all acts of kindness. It's part of my sacred, moral code as an Ogremon!" He pounded his right fist against his chest in salute to the old code.

"'Sacred, moral code'?" Joe asked incredulously, "What are you? A member of King Arthur's Court, or something?"

"Oh, that is so romantic," Mimi smiled with stars in her eyes as she thought about the stories of knights and their sacred codes.

"I'm sorry," Ogremon apologized, "I'll try to be meaner, next time," he turned his head to the side, sobs starting up again.

"Yeah," Gomamon laughed, "You'll ruin your reputation."

This comment got the others laughing as well, lightening the mood considerably.

+-9

Deramon and Floramon opened the front doors of the mansion widely for their new acquaintances to enter. The first thing that the group saw upon entering was a set of stairs with a gift box on it. The box was blue and the ribbon red.

As they approached the stair, the lid of the box lifted open and a little, robotic army figure popped up and started firing at them. The kids yelped and scattered, Sora, Biyomon, Kari and Gatomon going one way with Deramon. TK, Agumon, Patamon, Tentomon and Izzy going the other with Floramon. No one saw where Lucy had moved with her digimon to escape the attack.

In a side room, Tai couldn't help but exclaim, "What was that?!"

"It's a jack in the box with a serious attitude," Deramon quipped as he huffed and puffed.

The wild haired boy frowned at their guide, "You wouldn't happen to be leading us into some sort of trap, would you, Deramon?" he accused.

The digimon balked at that, "No, of course not! I would never try anything as deceitful as Puppetmon! Cross my wings and hope to fly, honest!" he bowed his head.

"I believe him, Tai," Kari said, looking up at her big brother, "How 'bout you?"

"Hmm," he hummed noncommittally, crossing his arms.

+-9

With TK and his portion of the group, they had made it up to the second floor by circling around to the back steps.

"Oh, boy!" the little blonde exclaimed as he saw a bright red fire truck toy in the middle of the hallway. He ran up to it with the others right behind him.

"It's a toy," Patamon said as he and Agumon moved closer to examine it from either side.

"Oh no!" Floramon intoned, "Make sure you don't touch it!"

"Uh oh," TK's partner said, having just placed one paw on the toy.

A high pitched siren began to wail from the toy and the little red light on the top lit up.

"What's happening?" Agumon asked.

Floramon moved forward at speed, "Watch out! Get down!" she grabbed the fire truck and tossed it out of the window before diving to the floor. The others took her advice, diving down.

And just in time, too. The toy exploded, blowing a hole in the side of the house.

"It was a heat activated bomb," Izzy realized as he sat up.

"That's why I said don't touch anything!" the plant digimon snapped at Patamon and Agumon.

"Sorry," they said in unison, bowing before the other digimon's wisdom.

Before much more could be said, Lucy's voice came from another area on the seconds floor, "Hey, everybody! Check this out!"

"Lucy?" Tentomon asked, looking in the direction he heard the voice.

+-9

"Ogremon, can I ask you a personal question?" Mimi asked as they maintained their position inside the tree.

"Yes," the ogre said resigned, "it's true, I don't floss."

"That's not what I was going to ask," the girl frowned for only a half second before she said, "Why do you fight with Leomon? Do you hate him?"

"Oh, no, it's not a question of hate," he explained, smiling, "It's our destiny to fight each other. He and I will be rivals for all eternity."

"Well, if that's you're only purpose in life, what would happen if you actually won?"

"I never really thought about it before," Ogremon admitted, "Maybe I'll take a vacation. A cruise is always nice."

"And after that?" Mimi asked as she got to her feet to stand before her new friend.

"What do you mean 'after that'?" he asked, confused.

"Well, if the fights over, you wouldn't have a rival anymore," she explained her thought.

"Of course I would. He and I are like two old warriors, fighting a war that had no beginning and has no end! Why, the only reason I exist at all is to defeat Leomon. And if he were gone, well..." he shook his head, putting one hand to his forehead as if in pain, "I'm so confused."

"You've got to have more of a purpose in life than to just defeat Leomon," Mimi insisted, trying to get him to really think about where his destiny was taking him.

"Leave me alone! You can't possibly understand!" He roared, "This rivalry is as old as time itself! I don't care what happens, I'll think about it after I've defeated Leomon!" He lifted his cudgel over his head with his decree, as if to signal it as true.

"You're getting way to excited," Joe interjected then, "I better take your blood pressure." He stood up to do just that, but a rather disturbing sound filled the air that put the nix on that plan. "What's that?" the blue haired teen asked, moving out of their hiding spot, "It came from out here."

"I found you!" Metaletemon cheered as he looked down at the group from the Vine he was holding onto.

"Run!" Joe cried, leading the band away from their hiding spot now that they'd been discovered.

+-9

"Hmm, who should I play with next?" Puppetmon wondered aloud as he approached his home, still somewhat annoyed that two of the Digidestined had gotten away from him because of that metal baboon.

"Puppetmon's coming back!" Tai announced as he spied the Mega approaching from one of the windows on the second floor, "I hope your surprise is a good one, Lucy."

"You bet it is!" the pink haired girl said with a grin, "Check this bad boy out!" she stood to the side of the object she, Izzy and Agumon had moved over to the window Tai was at.

"Oh, wow! It's a cannon!" TK exclaimed with a grin.

"And that's not all," Skymomon said as she flew in with a bag full of ammunition for the cannon.

"That's great, but do any of us know how to use it?" Sora asked, looking around at the people and digimon gathered.

"Well..." Lucy began, then hung her head, "No."

"I know how to use it," Deramon piped in, "But it would be against every principle I stand for," he paused for a minute then shrugged, "Ah, what the heck, I'll do it. But don't tell Puppetmon, it'll be our little secret."

"Right," the group agreed. Under his guidance, they loaded up the cannon and he aimed it.

"Okay, I've got him in my sights," the bird like digimon said after they'd moved the cannon to the window, "Ready, aim, Fire!" he yanked the cord at the back of the cannon, sending the shot right at the startled Dark Master, nearly knocking him off his feet, "Take this, Puppetmon!"

"Wah!" the Mega digimon yelped, turning and running for cover as he demanded to know, "Who's shooting at me?!" He managed to dive behind a large root and glared back at his mansion, "I know who it is! It's the Digidestined!"

More and more shots were fired, explosions striking the ground all around the evil digimon.

"Hey," he cried, "that's not fair! You're using my toys! Whoa!" he yelped when one came to close for comfort, but this only made him angry. He charged forward at the mansion, his hammer raised to bring the hurt on the first Digidestined punk he saw and a battle cry sounding from his throat.

+-9

At the same time as that battle was kicking off, Metaletemon was still chasing down Joe's group.

"You can't hide from me!" he shouted as he passed by on his vine, "I'm the king of swing!" He let loose another musical, Tarzan call.

He completely missed the group of kids and digimon covered by leaves and sticks off to his left. It was lucky he was just as easily fooled as he used to be or they might have gotten caught again.

And just when they thought their problems might be beginning to lessen, a ferocious growl came from the forest off to one side.

"What is that?" Mimi cried, looking as a shadowed digimon observed them with another ferocious growl, bordering on a war.

"Friend, or foe?" Joe asked.

The new digimon jumped out of the brush, revealing itself to be very animalistic in appearance. It had bright yellow fur, for black paws with black claws, two long black teeth coming down from it's top jaw that looked razor sharp, orange-red stripes down it's body and it had a spiky mane of more yellow fure, tipped in red.

Before the kids even knew it was happening, Ogremon was on his feet, his cudgel in hand, a manic laugh in his throat as he stood before the new digimon.

Things were about to get even _more_ complicated.

Chapter Forty Three: End.

Please Enjoy.


	44. Chapter 44 Ogremon's Honor

Chapter Forty Four: Ogremon's honor

Things were not looking stellar for Joe and Mimi. To be honest, it was about as far from a good day as it was possible to get at this point. And with a giant saber toothed digimon standing right in front of them, glaring like he was deciding whether or not they were to be chew toys.

The mostly yellow digimon took a heavy step forward and Joe and Mimi took reflexive steps back.

"Who's that?" Mimi wondered, hoping against hope that this one was actually a good guy, he was just cranky at the moment.

Ogremon stood there, cudgel in one hand, a challenging growl in his throat, and just behind and to the left of him were Gomamon and Palmon. They stood protectively in front of their partners.

The beast took a step closer and the seal digimon growled at him, "Hey, don't you come any closer!"

"Wait," the voice of the beast was deep, but not threatening despite the constant scowl on his face, "I wont hurt you."

"Do we believe you?" Mimi asked, looking to Joe for the decision.

"He sounds familiar," Joe said, pointing at the digimon. And the voice did, there was something about that growling voice that was triggering a memory somewhere in the back of his mind.

"Wait," Ogremon said, taking another step forward, "I don't trust him."

Before any other arguments could be made, they heard the voice of Metaletemon from somewhere in the forest, "Hey, don't give me any of your jive, baby! Come out, come out, where ever you are!" this was followed by the sounds of a tree being knocked down.

Joe, Mimi, and their digimon couldn't help the gasps of fear that came out of their mouths as they turned to see if they could see the evil monkey at all, hoping that they couldn't.

"I'll explain everything later," the yellow digimon said, "Right now, we need to get out of here!" this got everyone's attention back on him. He bent down on his forepaws and said, "Get on, quickly!"

The two humans and their partners complied easily, and the yellow digimon took off into the under brush of the forest. Unfortunately, there was no room for Ogremon, as big as he was.

"Hey, wait up!" he groused, "Don't leave me here with this whacked out monkey!"

+-9

Some distance behind the children and their companions, Metaletemon landed on the ground from his latest swing. His metal body made a rather heavy them as he landed.

Just before the metal monkey was a series of foot prints, belonging to digimon and, more importantly, human children. With this, he could easily track down his targets.

He laughed maliciously as he dug his fingers into the ground there, holding up some of the dirt the foot prints were in, "Ha ha! Supreme! I'm fired up and ready to go on a mean streak!"

He tossed the dirt to the side and started running through the forest, following the tracks with a grin on his evil face.

+-9

"Slow down, you four footed, giant fur ball!" Ogremon shouted after the mostly yellow digimon his new friends were riding on. This was such a pain!

"This is certainly more convenient than waiting for a taxi," Mimi commented.

Even as she spoke those words, they broke out of the forest and began to enter a stone valley. The group, aside from the digimon they were riding on, could only stare in no small amount of wonder at the city in ruins around them. It was probably once a beautiful metropolis, settled in this grey rock valley, but time had rendered it into little more than rotting ruins.

Joe, however, had a complaint that he needed to air, "If I'd known we were gonna go riding, I'd have worn long pants."

"Me too," Mimi nodded, "I need a side saddle," luckily, for them and Ogremon, the digimon they were riding on chose that moment to slow down to a mere strut through the ruined city.

"This place doesn't look very lively," the blue haired teen said, looking around.

"It's kinda spooky," the girl added.

Gomamon, who was riding at the back of the yellow and red digimon, made an unwelcome observation, "Look, up there!" he pointed off to their left with one claw.

The digimon they were riding on stopped and the group looked.

What they found was a half dilapidated building with a blue, dome like roof. A damaged sign was on the front of it, just over the wooden, swinging doors. Joe's jaw dropped open in recognition.

"I think I'm gonna barf," he warned, "That's the restaurant where they made me work like a slave. I'm still trying to get that greasy spoon smell out of my sweater." he shivered as he flashed back to the nearly two months of slave labor he was forced to do.

Gomamon nodded as he looked at the building he had hoped he would never see again, "But this is all wrong. It's supposed to be next to a lake."

"Everything's changed," the digimon they were riding on said simply before starting towards the diner, "Hurry, we need to find shelter." He figured that the restaurant was as good as any other place, better, actually, since at least two of their number knew the layout.

Once inside, Mimi, Joe and their digimon hopped down off the mysterious digimon's back and took a good long look around the establishment.

"This place is depressing," Joe said in a kind of monotone.

"There isn't even a clean chair to sit on," Mimi complained.

Behind them, the saber toothed digimon began to glow with the yellow light of evolution. His form was obscured by the light then began to shift and change before their very eyes until it became something startling familiar and a very welcome sight.

A long blonde main, tan fur, blue eyes, even the numerous scars and sharp teeth were a welcome sight to them for this digimon.

"Awesome!" Gomamon exclaimed.

"Leomon, you're not gonna believe what you've missed!" Joe smiled brightly seeing the heroic digimon they'd met so long ago.

"I can't believe it's you!" Mimi gushed as she rushed forward to hug the lion digimon, He knelt down and welcomed her affection, hugging her back.

"I am truly happy to have finally returned and help my friends," the digimon grinned.

"You Digivolved!" Palmon smiled, pointing out the miracle. That entity that had taken over Kari had told them all that Digivolving like that was impossible without the Digidestined. Had Leomon found some other way to over come that limitation?

"A lot has happened to me since being set free of the black gears and their evil power," Leomon said by way of explanation, "Being exposed to the digivice has now enabled me to Digivolve," he stood up with a frustrated growl and slammed his fist into the wall beside him, "But there is one problem, I am unable to control it!" He clenched his fist tightly before himself, "I haven't learned the secret yet! It's all still new to me!" The children could just hear the frustration in the lion digimon.

"What makes you special, you oversized, doggy chew toy?"

The kids and Leomon looked to the side to see Ogremon standing there with his Cudgel held at the ready.

"Why don't we see how many lives you have left, huh?" the green digimon's challenge was obvious, and he knew the lion digimon wouldn't back down. He didn't even care that his own arm was in a sling, this was something he was born to do, and a broken arm wasn't going to stop that. He bashed his club into the floor before him, smashing aside a few planks of wood before he ran at the other digimon.

He swung his club, but Leomon dodged it like it was the easiest thing in the world, then grabbed his right bicep to stop him from swinging again. Ogremon tried to bring his other fist to bare, but that yielded little in the way of results except for a shock of pain that shot up from his forearm.

Behind them, through the hole that Ogremon had made in the floor boards, a pair of eyes were watching the whole thing with unveiled fear. The watchers were begging, with everything they had, that they wouldn't be discovered.

With only a miniscule effort, Leomon managed to throw his rival to the ground. The green digimon grunted in pain and held his left arm tightly as he glared up at the lion.

"There is nothing more pathetic than a whiner," Leomon looked down on his rival, "Clearly, you don't deserve to be called a digimon."

Ogremon grunted in pain, glaring up at the one he would defeat sooner or later. Broken arm or not, Digivolving or no, he would eventually win this battle. He swore it to himself as he tried to fight off the pain and get back into the fight they were in now.

The two digimon in the hole in the floor decided that maybe, with everyone distracted, they might be able to move the boards back in place. A green, webbed hand lifted out of the darkness of the hole and grabbed one of the pieces of wood. Unfortunately for the poor, frightened digimon, it made an audible sound that Palmon picked up on.

The plant digimon turned around to see the green hand reaching out of the hole and let out a small shout of fright before rushing over to Mimi, holding her around the waist. This brought everyone's attention to what might be another threat.

Leomon moved over to stand before the children, just in case he had to protect them, as he barked out, "Who's in there? Show yourself!"

Almost immediately, two more digimon that the group would recognize. The taller of the two was the green, frog like digimon, Gekomon. The smaller, mostly purple tadpole digimon was Otamamon.

"Please, don't squish us!" the tadpole begged, "We're friends!"

"The last thing we wanna do is cause trouble!" Gekomon added to the sentiment, holding his hands clasped in the air before him as he kneeled on the ground.

"Oh!" Mimi's eyes widened for a moment, "Palmon, look."

The flower headed digimon put on a big smile as she recognized the two, "They're the ones who delivered the triple hot fudge sundae!"

"Huh?" Gekomon cracked an eye open, hearing those two familiar voices, "The princess! What luck!"

"Huh?" Otamamon echoed the older digimon, then a smile began to spread across his face as the two digimon ran forward. Gekomon in particular let out a happy cry of 'Princess Mimi!' as he embraced her tightly.

The girl was also genuinely happy to see the two digimon she knew from her spoilt brat days. She was glad to know she hadn't been so rotten to them to make them hate her.

Joe and the others could only look on with small smiles on their faces for the reunion.

+-9

About forty minutes ago, at Puppetmon's mansion, the evil Dark Master was still dodging blasts from his own cannon. His frowned deepened every time one of the blasted things came closer to him and picked up the pace each time. He was sooooo gonna make whoever was shooting at him pay!

"Take that!" Deramon yelled with laughter in his throat as he kept pulling the chord on the cannon while Floramon loaded it, "Here he comes!"

"Oh, no!" the plant digimon said, seeing the Dark Master get ever closer to the manion.

"He's fast," the bird like digimon marveled, but didn't stop firing.

"We are shooting at him," Floramon said, loading another cannon ball the size of a child's fist.

"I bet they don't invite Puppetmon to their birthday parties," Tai said, a little shocked by how eagerly the two were fighting against the Mega digimon. Hadn't Deramon said, not even five minutes ago, that it was against all his principles?

"I think it's a good thing that they're finally releasing their hostility," Sora said, no less surprised by this development.

"I think it's a good thing they're releasing their hostility on Puppetmon," Lucy added.

Back outside, Puppetmon had finally moved too close to his manor for the cannon to be an effective weapon.

He glared up at the window that held the cannon and growled for a moment before demanding angrily, "Get out, _Now!_"

Deramon and Floramon peaked their head out the window on either side of the cannon, saw the utter rage on the face of the Dark Master that presided over the forest area, let loose dual screams of terror and ducked back into the mansion. No one would really blame them. They proceeded to run for their lives, hoping that the humans had what it took to defeat the evil little monster, but deciding to hide until the fighting was done with.

"You guys know you're not allowed upstairs! My room is off limits!" Puppetmon shouted even thought he couldn't see the subjects of his ire anymore, "Plus, I _hate_ sharing my toys!"

As he spoke, another figure made itself known. It was the diminutive form Gatomon, she was small enough to stand comfortably on the end of his cannon as she looked down at the evil digimon that was one fourth responsible for messing up the Digiworld.

"I'd say you need to learn a little more about good manners," her bright blue eyes almost sparkled with mirth as she looked down on him, "We're not hurting anything, except maybe you!"

And that was their cue. Tai, Kari, TK, Izzy, Sora, Lucy and all their digimon kicked open the front doors to the mansion, coming face to face with the Dark Master.

"We've had it with you, Puppetmon!" Tai glared at the monster, "You're toast!"

The evil little puppet digimon turned his red eyes on the group of Digidestined before him, "So, you wanna play, huh? How about a game of follow the leader?" he turned around on the spot and started running away from his home again, grinning most maliciously.

"Come back here, you puny tooth pick!" Tai yelled as he and the rest of the group started running after him, "Play with us and you're gonna lose!" Even Gatomon hopped down from the second floor and joined in on the chase.

When Tai suddenly skidded to a halt and the sound of shifting dirt filled the air, the others stopped as well, and Lucy in particular was not looking forward to the next development, "Sky, now might be a good time to Digivolve."

Before the flying monkey could obey the request, more than a dozen plant digimon, red in color with spiked green clubs for arms, broke out of the ground. They surrounded the Digidestined on all sides.

"It's a trick!" Agumon grumbled.

"Not our best move," Gatomon said as she stood before Kari.

"Mental note: Never follow an enemy who runs away with a grin on his face. It's probably a trap," Lucy said.

Puppetmon just laughed as the odds yet again turned to his favor, "See, TK, I have friends after all. Problem is, they don't like you," he laughed more, kicking his legs in the air in his mirth, then he sat up and smirked wickedly at the little blonde boy, "And, what they don't like, they destroy."

"_Yeah, boss!_" the red plant digimon all said at once as even more of them appeared out of the ground.

Izzy had pulled his laptop out by this time and was scanning their statistics, "RedVeggiemon have extremely volatile tempers. That's why their faces are always red. Not exactly a friendly type."

Tai, however, wasn't deterred, "It's time to do some weed whacking!" He held up his Digivice, a glare on his face as he looked around at all the evil digimon.

+-9

Back in the restaurant, the group had cleaned off a couple chairs and a table, just enough for them to sit around and talk about what was going on, and see if the Gekomon and Otamamon knew anything.

"How come you two were hiding?" Mimi asked, "What happened to your palace?"

The two amphibian digimon had tears spilling freely out of their eyes as Gekomon said, "The palace was completely destroyed by those creepy Dark Masters."

"Yeah, it was horrible," Otamamon sobbed, "They attacked us for the fun of it, we had to run for our lives. We were all separated and we've been hiding here ever since."

"How awful," the human girl breathed, bowing her head to their tragedy. Joe was doing much the same. He couldn't believe had evil these Dark Masters were. He had to wonder, what had happened to make them into such jerks.

Ogremon, however, was angered by the story, "Those guys make me sick! Who do they think they are, picking on poor, defenseless digimon?" he clenched his right fist before him in his aggravation, "I mean, is that fair?"

"The Dark Masters have to be stopped if we expect to survive," Leomon said with determination, "I've spent all this time searching for you, but it wasn't easy," he looked at Joe and Mimi, "The Dark Masters have seen to that. You two have the power to defeat those beasts, but you must work together and join forces with the other Digidestined. Only then will you succeed."

"Are you saying we wasted our time fighting everyone else?" Mimi asked, thinking back over the battles that they'd gone through since this whole mess started up, "I mean, I could have stained my clothes with perspiration."

Ogremon's laughter filled the air at her little declaration, "Listen, girly," he pointed at her with one white claw, "If you would have fought those guys at the start, you would have broken way more than just a sweat," he made a thumbs down gesture to symbolize their defeat.

"Maybe," the girl admitted before returning her eyes to the old table before her, "but what about the good digimon on File Island that sacrificed themselves to help us?" tears began to gather in the little lady's eyes and she choked back a sob as her gloved fingers gripped the fabric of her dress.

"Mimi," Joe sighed, knowing how she felt.

"It's true."

"What do you mean?" the blue haired teen asked, turning to the lion digimon that spoke.

"I think you were brought to File Island to prove that you were capable of working as a team," the large digimon explained, "It could have been a test to make sure that you were the Digidestined."

"Did we pass?" Palmon asked, tilting her head to one side.

"You did," Leomon said with a nod, "It actually makes sense. If Devimon had defeated you, then you would not be ready for this bigger challenge. Devimon's power was nothing compared to the Dark Masters'," Mimi looked up, tears still leaking out of her eyes and Joe was already hanging on every word the lion was speaking, "He was merely the beginning. But you've proven yourselves, over and over, by defeating one evil digimon after another. You're ready to take on the Dark Masters! C'mon, we must find your friends, immediately!" he stood to his feet as Mimi walked away from the table, "So, tell me, where did they go? We can't do this all alone."

"Some of us needed a time out from each other," Joe said to the lion, "You know how it is."

"You needed a time out?" Leomon blinked speculatively, wondering what that meant.

Joe sighed as he looked over at Mimi who was staring pensively out the window of the restaurant, "Yeah, you might say it's another kind of test."

Mimi just continued to look out the window, hearing the words, but not yet wanting to acknowledge them. It seemed as if the world itself was pushing them towards one nonstop fight. And she still really wanted to avoid anyone getting hurt, especially any more of her friends.

+-9

Back at the mansion, almost all of the digimon had Digivolved to protect their partners. The only one that hadn't so far was Agumon, but there was a good reason for that.

"_Electro Shocker!_"

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Tornado Hammer!_"

"_Hand of Fate!_"

"_Lightning Claw!_"

The attacks of the Champion level digimon were laying waste to the horde of RedVeggiemon. It was almost too easy to be any kind of challenge to them. One of Puppetmon's minions could even be seen hopping along, yelping like a dog, its rear end on fire from one of Birdramon's attacks.

"You guys are about as useful as a load of stinky, rotten vegetables! I've had it with you!" Puppetmon yelled at his fallen minions, even as Tai and Agumon moved closer to kick off the real attack against the Dark Master, "Huh?" he finally noticed the two when they were about ten feet from him.

"Try to stop us now!" the wild haired boy might have grinned victoriously if this battle weren't so serious. He held up his Digivice that turned a shocking orange color before it released the river of energy into Agumon, allowing him to evolve.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!" the digimon lifted into the air and pulled his left gauntlet back to attack the evil little digimon, "_Mega Claw!_"

"_Puppet Pummel!_" Puppetmon roared as he brought his mallet to bear. The two attack met, causing an explosion that sent the Dark Master skidding back, "Think you're so smart?" he put his mallet behind his back and flicked his fingers at Wargreymon, "Nobody toys with me!" Almost invisible little strings connected all over the other Mega's body, putting him under the puppet's control.

He struggled against it for all he was worth, but it was no use when the evil digimon was actively concentrating on controlling him.

"He's got me strung up!" Wargreymon grunted as he was forced to turn around and face the others.

"The enemy's that way," Puppetmon grinned, trying to force the Mega to attack them. The struggling digimon was able to stall however, making himself trip.

"Wargreymon!" Tai exclaimed, seeing his partner fall.

"Don't come too close! I don't know what he'll make me do!" even as the digimon warned them of this, he was lifted into the air by the strings and thrown back down at them with his claws forward. Tai and Sora, who had been right nearby, managed to dodge out of the way, but it was a close thing.

Puppetmon just switched targets. He turned the Mega form of Agumon towards Kari and Izzy. The two tried to run, but Kari tripped and fell before the controlled digimon.

Gatomon had just knocked away another of the RedVeggimon when she saw this happen, "Kari!"

Kari's crest glowed brightly and the symbol of Light shot out to be absorbed into the cat digimon's chest.

"Gatomon, Digivolve to Angewomon!" Wargreymon was struggling harder than ever against what Puppetmon was making him do, and he had managed so far to keep from striking the eight year old girl, but he didn't know how long his strength would last. Luckily, at the last possible second, Angewomon swooped in and snatched the girl out of the path of danger, "Gotcha!"

Wargreymon grunted and nearly collapsed to one knee as he was able to stop struggling for the moment, but Puppetmon just turned him on the Digidestined again. The whole group was running away now, Izzy, Sora and Lucy at the back of the group while they ran for their lives.

"Keep running, children!" Wargreymon ordered, "I don't want to catch you!" even as he said this, he began to cut down trees on either side of the path and raised his gauntlets to swipe at the three of them. Luckily, their Crests began to glow and their digimon began to feel the energy they needed to Digivolve to the next level enter them.

"Kabuterimon, Digivolve to Megakabuterimon!"

"Birdramon, Digivolve to Garudamon!"

"SkyYetimon, Digivolve to Wildangemon!"

"_Horn Buster!_" Megakabuterimon announced his attack as he landed before the children. The blast of orange electric energy streaked over their heads, by passing them and Wargreymon to strike at Puppetmon. It wouldn't be enough to destroy him, but it was more than enough to cut the string. It had the added benefit of sending his mallet flying, which Wildangemon scooped out of the air in a lightning quick dive.

"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!" Puppetmon yelled up at the fur wearing angel.

"Yeah, about that," the wild angel said, "Garudamon, if you would do the honors..." she tossed the mallet over to the queen of the skies.

"My pleasure!" the much larger digimon assured her, catching the weapon in one claw and crushing it into digital dust.

The evil digimon's jaw dropped and he began to feel his first spike of fear. Before he could even try to escape, he found himself surrounded. First it was Wargreymon, who was no amused at being used to attack his friends, then Angemon and Angewomon who had their arms crossed menacingly. Next Megakabuterimon and Garudamon landed on either side of him, both just glaring down on him. Finally, Wildangemon dropped down into a crouch on top of Megakabuterimon, smirking down at the evil Mega.

"A piece advice?" the fur wearing angel said, "Don't run. You'll just die tired."

"I-I-I-I'm not afraid of you!" the puppet shouted. It might have been a bit more convincing without the stutter. "I'll get you!" he started glaring again as he looked around at the forces arrayed against him.

"If I were you, I'd reconsider," Tai said with a glare.

"Huh?" the Dark Master clenched his fist as Cherrymon's words flashed through his mind again, '_Wait, we must be careful! The Digidestined are strong! Stronger than I expected! Don't under estimate them, Puppetmon, or it could be disastrous!_' '_I'm only saying take them seriously, the Digidestined have something you don't._' The evil little digimon began to shake in barely contained rage as he remembered those words, '_What did he mean by that? I've got more power than they ever will!_' "Fools!" he shouted out loud as his eyes took on a manic look, "I'm never gonna lose to you! Watch!" Suddenly, his eyes flashed a bright white and the ground began to shake.

Lucy shrieked and clutched onto Sora's arm. While she did that, the children realized that something a little less than expected was happening. Puppetmon's mansion? Yeah, it was growing. It turned into a giant humanoid golem, hand, legs, even a face, if you looked at the front of it in just the right light.

Puppetmon used their distraction to make a break for it, even as he sing-song'd, "I know something you don't!"

The towering golem let loose a gargling roar, causing the children to gasp in fright. The whole thing, stood up straight, towered far above even Garudamon. It was quite intimidating, then it lifted up one gigantic foot and moved to stomp on Tai.

The boy was frozen in the spot, only able to shout out his fear at his impending doom.

+-9

In the ruined city, another evil Mega was about to make his appearance.

"It's showtime, baby!" Metaletemon grinned as he landed before the dilapidated restaurant. He had found his prey, now it was time to get his revenge, once and for all.

Inside the restaurant, Leomon's ear twitched, and he suddenly looked out the doors.

"It's Metaletemon!" He warned the others, even as he and Ogremon turned to face the threat.

"He never quits!" the green digimon said, even as the others gasped in fear.

Only a few seconds later, the metal monkey kicked in the doors to the restaurant and flexed his bulging muscles to show off his impressive build and strength.

"You trying to pull a number on me bro?" the evil digimon asked, "Well, I'm gonna lay it on the line, 'cause I'm so fine!"

Leomon was unamused and not intimidated by the fool of a Mega that presented himself to them, "Deal with me! Then we shall see who's fine!" The light of Digivolution filled the restaurant, "Leomon, Digivolve to SaberLeomon!" Half a second later, the saber toothed form of Leomon broke through the wall out of the building, hoping to lure the metal monkey out into a more spacious area to fight.

"Whoa!" Metaletemon exclaimed as he followed the lion outside, "Well, I see we've been taken our vitamins, but it's time to put the cat out with the garbage!" He flexed again, holding his fists before him and showing off his much improved upper body.

"SaberLeomon may have a heart of gold, but he'll crush his opponents with his claws of steel," Gomamon told Joe and Mimi as they moved to the hole in the wall to watch the fight from a safe spot.

"Don't do it!" Mimi pleaded, trying to keep him from getting hurt.

"I'll be alright," the ancient predator digimon looked over to her, "Now run, before it's too late!" the mostly yellow digimon leapt through the air at Metaletemon, his right fore paw glowing with a silver energy, "_Howling Crusher!_"

"_Metal Punch!_" the monkey roared back, meeting the powerful attack with one of his own, the resulting explosion sending the both of them flying backwards. SaberLeomon landed on his feet, but Metaletemon landed on his back and bounced before he was able to flip over and get his feet beneath him.

"I'm not gonna sit here and watch this," Gomamon grumbled to himself, hating the feeling of being helpless, then he shouted, "Hey, guys! Wait for me! Gomamon, Digivolve to Ikkakumon!"

"Mimi," Palmon said as she moved next to her partner, still keeping her eyes on the battle, "Please, let me fight with them," she turned to look up at the girl, "Well?"

Mimi had a sad look on her face and she was staring down at her Digivice like she was looking for an answer. She didn't want Palmon to get hurt. She didn't want anyone to get hurt. But if Palmon didn't evolve, then the others could be put in danger. It was a catch twenty two.

"What should I do?" the plant digimon pleaded with her partner.

"Mimi," Joe said softly, looking over at the girl.

Ikkakumon had joined the fight by this time, taking careful aim at Metaletemon, "_Harpoon Torpedo!_" But before he could launch the projectile, Joe jumped down out of the restaurant and ran to his digimon's side.

"Wait!" the blue haired teen commanded.

"Huh? What do you mean, 'wait'?" the furry, white digimon looked down at the human boy, "We've gotta help him out!"

"But don't you think it's a better idea to leave, like he told us to?" Joe asked.

"But, Joe..." the large digimon looked at him, almost giving a puppy dog pout for the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to help SaberLeomon.

At the same time, the digimon in question was firing another attack at the evil Mega, "_Twin Fang!_" Thousands of needle like hairs shot out of the ancient digimon's mane, hitting Metaletemon all across his body.

The only problem was that they weren't doing anything to him. All the little needles were just bouncing off his metal hide, not even leaving a scratch for the effort.

"What?!" SaberLeomon was shocked by this development.

Back over by Ikkakumon, Joe had already helped Palmon up onto his digimon's back, but Mimi had moved closer to the fight, watching what was happening with worry in her light brown eyes.

"I really think we better leave, before it's too late!" the blue haired teen called over to her.

"What about Leomon?" the girl asked.

Even as she said this, Metaletemon was laughing at the futility of that last attack, "You call that your best shot?" he ran forward then, after cracking his knuckles dramatically, "_Metal Punch!_" He slammed shoulder first into the other Mega, easily knocking him over.

"He's nothing," Ogremon said as he ran forward to join the battle, "If you want a real challenge, it's right here!"

Metaletemon just turned a wicked grin on the bigger, but weaker, digimon, "What?"

"Ogremon, don't be ridiculous," SaberLeomon said as he struggled back to his feet, "You're no match for him."

"Hey! Listen," he pointed threateningly at the lion, "I can take on this tin can if I want to!"

"No!" Mimi ran forward, trying to stop the fight from continuing.

"Mimi!" Palmon cried, Joe crying out as well, right next to her.

"You're in no shape to fight! Now stop it!" the human girl grabbed Ogremon gently by his left arm, "And quit trying to be a hero!" Ogremon just looked down at her, almost startled to see her there.

"No, everyone's welcome!" the metal monkey said suddenly, lifting on finger up on his left hand, "As a matter of fact, little darlin', today I'm offering a group discount!" he then lifted his right hand into the air, one finger pointed up at the sky as he focused all his power into another attack that the children had yet to see, "Besides, it saves me time to destroy all of you at once!"

Then, called down on his command, a spiraling, double bolt of black lightning streaked towards the ground, right at Mimi. The girl could only scream in fear, unable to move.

"Mimi, no!" SaberLeomon had no such restrictions. He moved like his life depended on it, leaping into the air above the girl, just before the bolt could strike her, taking the full force of the attack himself.

Metaletemon just laughed cruelly as he watched the lion fall to the side, suffering from the massive electrical damage from the corrupted bolt.

"Okay, that does it!" Joe said, finally getting mad. His crest began to glow beneath his shirt before the symbol of Reliability was absorbed into Ikkakumon.

"Ikkakumon, Digivolve to Zudomon!"

Mimi had moved over to the heroic digimon's side, shaking him lightly, as she sobbed, trying to get him to respond, "Leomon, wake up! Please tell me you're alright!" Her tears were beginning to dampen his fur, but she needed him to wake up. She needed him to be okay.

Zudomon picked up where Leomon left off, rearing back his hammer and slamming it into the ground, "_Vulcan's Hammer!_" the yellow bolt of energy soared through the air and slammed into the monkey's chest, but it had no visible results.

"Ha! As you can see, that didn't even phase me!" Metaletemon gloated, "My metal's chrome digizoid, the absolute strongest metal there is!"

"Then maybe you'd like this!" the huge digimon said as he reared his hammer back again, focusing his power before he threw it at the evil monkey, "_Vulcan's Hammer!_" It twirled furiously through the air, the wind whipping around it as it approached the Mega.

"No matter what you attempt, it's useless!" Metaletemon grinned, posing with his arms in the air, giving the attack a free shot at his chest, "'Cause I'm invincible!" Even as he said this, the hammer bounced off his chest, almost knocking him off his feet. And then, the impossible happened. A crack formed on the evil monkey's chest.

He looked down at the crack that turned into half a dozen, incredulity in his tone, "I'm breakin' apart! This is terrible! I've lost my luster! Why does this keep happening to me?" T

he hammer that his him spun back through the air, landing back in Zudomon's right hand as they watched the Mega fret over his cracks, "Because my hammer is made of chrome digizoid metal," he explained helpfully, "I'm afraid it isn't your moment to shine!"

"That can't be!"

"_Twin Fang!_"

"Uh-oh," suddenly, out of his blind spot, SaberLeomon thrust a brutal claw through Metaletemon's chest, right where he was cracked at. The evil digimon could only shudder in pain for a few moments before he shouted to the sky, "You'll pay, big ti-" He was deleted so quickly he couldn't even finish his threat.

"He did it!" Joe exclaimed, watching as SaberLeomon de-Digivolved back into Leomon. But all was not well. Only seconds after turning back to normal, the large digimon collapsed to the ground, face first.

"Leomon!" Mimi cried.

+-9

When we last left them, Tai and the others were about to be crushed by a house golem stomping on them. Luckily, they managed to run out of the path, screams on their lips as they scattered, making it harder to target more than one of them.

Even as they ran away, Wargreymon dived in the way of the attack, sinking his blades into the bottom of the foot to keep it from moving any further, "Don't worry, I got it!"

It's feet weren't the only threat, however.

Kari was screaming at the top of her lung while she ran from one of the golem's hands. Angewomon intercepted the seeking appendage, though, giving the girl enough time to put some distance between the mansion and herself.

"Kari, c'mon!" Tai called, reaching out for his sister and taking her hand in his own as he pulled her along and hopefully out of the danger.

Unseen by the kids, Puppetmon was watching the battle from the forest. His eyes flashed white again, and the golem flicked away Angewomon and shook off Wargreymon.

Garudamon and Megakabuterimon stepped up to the bat next.

"_Wing Blad_e_!_" the fire bird launched through the air and blasted the golem's head, but it failed to even start the wooden monster ablaze.

"It fizzled out!" Sora exclaimed.

Then, before the giant, red insect could attack, he was knocked out of the air by one of the monster's hands.

"Megakabuterimon!" Izzy cried out.

"My turn," Wildangemon said, running forward and climbing up the golem's body, "_Wild Tempest!_" the swirling attack smacked the monstrosity in the face, but it hardly even chipped the paint.

Before Angemon joined the battle he gestured to his partner, "TK, run!"

"Okay," the blonde boy nodded, heading off into the relative safety of the forest, even as the third angel joined the fight.

Now assured of his victory, Puppetmon chuckled to himself as he turned to run away, "Ha! I'm outta here! Happy house warming!" As he ran though, he found one of his Redveggiemon still alive and well.

"Take me, too!" the vegetable pleaded.

"Are you joking?" Puppetmon reached back with one hand and grabbed the wooden cross on his back, "Do I look like I want your company? Take this! _Puppet Pummel!_" he threw the cross like a shuriken, easily deleting the incompetent minion, not an ounce of remorse to be found in the evil digimon. As the cross returned to the Mega, a tree that his minion had been standing next to collapsed, cut clean through by the attack.

Then, he noticed the presence of someone sneaking up on him.

"Who's that behind me?" He demanded, turning around to see which dead 'mon it was.

What he found was the completely motionless form of Metalgarurumon. The wolf just stood there, staring at the Dark Master.

"Well, it's about time!" Puppetmon said, before turning to look back at the still raging battle, "Do them some major damage! And I want no foul ups!"

The battle was not going well for the Digidestined. Their digimon didn't seem capable of hurting the giant house golem, and he'd managed to capture Garudamon in one of his massive hands. The others were trying to distract him, to get him to let go of the queen of the sky, but it wasn't working, neither was Wildangemon's tactic of trying to use her spear to pry loose it's giant fingers.

After a few seconds, Puppetmon noticed that Metalgarurumon hadn't moved to follow his orders.

"Huh?" he intoned as he looked back at the wolf, "What's with you? Day dreaming again, huh?" he frowned as he thrust his gloved hands at the metal digimon, sending out his puppet strings, "Now, Metalgarurumon, sock it to 'em!" He tugged with all his considerable might, but the other Mega didn't move an inch in compliance, "Hey, this isn't working here! Remember, you're supposed to obey me! I'm the boss!"

"Think again," came Matt's voice as he stepped out of the dark part of the forest, walking up beside his digimon, "You're washed up, Puppetmon. Nobody's gonna be on your side because you don't care about them."

He dropped his hands to his sides for a moment, plaintively saying, "I'm still strong," then he glared at the human boy, reaching for the cross on his back, "And it doesn't matter what they think! They're still gonna do what I tell them to do!" he started running forward into his attack, a war cry in his wooden throat.

He didn't get far.

"_Metal Wolf Claw!_" Metalgarurumon breathed a powerful blast of concentrated cold at the wooden Dark Master, sending him rolling like a rag doll. The cross was sent flying from his hand and his body was splintered and broken.

Puppetmon didn't even have the strength to move his head, the gears in his chest squeaking as they struggled to keep turning, in spite of all the damage he'd taken.

"Cherrymon," the evil digimon wheezed, "What is it those kids have that I don't?" He wasn't really expecting a response, but he couldn't show his surprise when he got one, '_Friends._'

Across the way, the golem still had a hold of Garudamon and was still stomping forward. Until it just fell to pieces. Garudamon was able to break free as it collapsed. Wondering what had happened, but thankful for it anyway.

Back with Matt, he stepped forward towards Puppetmon, just in time to watch the monstrous, childlike digimon dissolve into pure data. He was _not_ sad to see the second of the Dark Masters go down.

"Thank you, Matt!"

Sora's voice grabbed the boy's attention unexpectedly. He thought he'd gone undetected. He really didn't want to be around anyone just yet. He looked at her and the others sadly, not sure what to say. So, he just walked away, Metalgarurumon following him.

No one tried to stop him. Not even Tai. Especially Tai. He didn't understand why his friend needed this break from them, but, if it would avoid another fight like before, he'd let the boy go unmolested.

"Matt!" Lucy shouted suddenly.

The blonde stopped and turned to look back at the girl.

"You better get your head on straight soon," she said, smiling slightly, "We're all waiting for you to come back so we can laugh at this, okay?"

For a moment, the boy said nothing, just staring at the pink haired girl, then he gave a slight grin and nodded. Then he and his digimon continued walking into the forest, assured of their place in the group, no matter how long it took them to come back to them.

Then the ground began to shake and Lucy began to scream, "Why is it always earthquakes?!" The girl almost sobbed as she grabbed onto Wargreymon's leg, surprising the Mega with the strength of her grip, "Why couldn't it be marshmallow rain instead, just one time?"

"Now that Puppetmon has been defeated, the forest is disappearing!"Izzy shouted over the sounds of the shifting earth beneath their feet.

"Run!" Tai ordered, "We've gotta get out of here and find a safe place!"

As the forested part of Spiral Mountain began to drain away, it was even visible on Earth, the tears in the sky still making the Digiworld viewable to the human world.

As the ground continued to shake and Puppetmon's real began to drain back into the Digiworld, the six digimon scooped up their partners and flew to safety, keeping them from falling into some kind of abyss when the ground beneath them drained away.

+-9

Back in the ruined city, with the help of Ogremon, they had moved Leomon closer to the diner, to make him easier to tend to, but the wounded digimon had yet to wake up.

"Leomon, it's me!" Mimi cried, fighting back her tears as yet another friend was hurt protecting her. She could barely stand it.

"C'mon now," Palmon urged, wanting the lion digimon to wake up and make her partner happy.

"Yeah, wake up!" Gomamon begged.

Joe just collapsed to his knees, having found nothing in his bag that could help them treat the woundsof their friend this time, "This stupid toilet paper isn't going to be any good this time," he lifted the bag above his head and tossed it to the ground in a small fit of rage, spilling some of the contents. He felt so useless!

Finally, Leomon's eyes opened and he was looking towards the trees visible from the city, "The forest," he breathed, "The forest is disappearing," Mimi gasped when she saw what the lion digimon meant, "It's a sign that something positive has happened. Your friends must have defeated Puppetmon," just from hearing the digimon talk you could tell he was having trouble breathing, "That's good. I expected that they would." His eyes began to close again as Mimi turned to look at him again.

"Oh, Leomon, please don't leave us!" she shook his arm gently, "We depend on you!"

"You have no reason to worry. I must go now and rejuvenate myself at the Primary Village," Leomon said to try and reassure her.

"But, uh," Ogremon tried to say something, anything, that could make his rival stay, but he was never one for words and they were failing him now.

Leomon looked at the green digimon that he had fought since the beginning, "Ogremon, I'm very sorry. Now is not the time for us to resolve things, but I promise, we will meet up again." He held out a claw towards the other digimon, Ogremon doing the same.

"You're a good rival," Ogremon said, tears leaking freely from his eyes. Before their hands could meet and clasp in a show of respect, Leomon went limp and his data faded on the wind.

Mimi couldn't stop her sobs at seeing yet another friend lost to the evil digimon of this world, "No!"

Not even Joe could maintain a cool facade in the face of this, hanging his head and pounding his fist into his thighs. Loudest of the cries, thought, were those of Ogremon. He clutched his right fist before him as he let out his depression at seeing his greatest rival disappear.

"Mimi," Joe said after a few minutes, looking to the brown haired girl, "Let's go to the Primary Village."

"Yes, we need help," the girl said, looking up, "And if what Leomon said is true, we'll meet some old friends there. Wouldn't it be just great to see Chuumon and Piximon again?"

Joe nodded once then firmed his resolved, clenching a fist in front of himself, "Then the matter's settled, we're going to Primary Village, alright?"

"There's only one problem, it doesn't exist," Ogremon hated to rain on their parade, but better to spare them the grief of finding out later after getting their hopes up, "There isn't anything there, it's a ghost town. It was destroyed after the Dark Masters poisoned it with their evil. No one is left." He remembered the charred husk of a town that used to be where all the baby digimon came from. He wondered if the Dark Masters even knew what they were doing when they destroyed that place.

"It can't be," Mimi breathed, unable to believe that she would never see her old friends again.

"It will never return to the way it was until the Dark Masters are eliminated," the growl in Ogremon's voice let them know that he wholeheartedly supported the deletion of the evil digimon that made themselves rulers of this world, "Any ideas?"

"I say we throw them out and then save the village," Joe proposed.

"That would be great," Gomamon spoke up, "And it's better than sitting around and doing nothing."

"Okay, Mimi, the only way out of this mess is to defeat the Dark Masters," the blue haired teen informed the girl, "Are you up for it?"

The girl was silent for a moment, not yet reacting to the news that she would _have_ to fight if she ever wanted to see her digimon friends again.

"We need your help, Mimi," Palmon told the girl, "Please say yes. For Leomon and everyone. The whole Digiworld needs us." The plant still had tears in her eyes from Leomon's departure.

"Yeah," Mimi said, wiping away the moisture on her face, "You're right, Palmon, sniffling is for babies, and I've done too much of that already," she took a breath, then smiled up at the green digimon they'd found out in the woods, "Ogremon, are you going to come with us?"

"Huh?" he balked for a moment then said, "Well, I have no intention of joining forces with you crazy kids," he turned his head away from them, "However, if we all happen to be going the same way, I'm stuck tagging along." His denial wasn't fooling anyone.

"Don't worry, Ogremon, we wont blow your cover," Joe assured him with a smile.

"Now that it's decided, we need to seek out a few allies," the green digimon suggested.

"Allies? Where?" Gomamon questioned.

"There must be others willing to fight the Dark Masters and get their hands dirty. I know they're out there, we just have to find them, that's all," Ogremon explained.

"Yeah!" Mimi agreed with a bright smile, thinking of the looks on the others' faces when she finally showed up to help.

"Hey, Princess, do you mind if we come along to help out?" Otamamon asked as he and Gekomon stood before their former monarch.

"No way," the girl said with her hands on her hips for emphasis.

"Huh?"

"C'mon!" Gekomon cried.

"Only if you stop calling me Princess and call me Mimi, instead," she smirked playfully at them.

"Our pleasure, Mimi," the frog said, "So, can we come now?"

"Of course you can," she giggled softly at them.

Her good cheer spread to the others, smiles breaking out on all their faces as Otamamon and Gekomon danced happily at their inclusion.

Mimi could help but think about the events in her life so far and smile at how far she'd come from that spoiled little girl she'd been. She only hoped that she was no strong enough to really do what needed to be done. And if not, she prayed that she could rely on her friends to help her.

Chapter Forty Four: End.

Please Enjoy.


	45. Chapter 45 My Sister's Keeper

I apologize for how late this chapter is. As irony would have it, I originally was late on this chapter because, just like Kari, I fell ill. I had one whopper of a cold and was unable to write for nearly two weeks. After that is was just pure laziness. But I have returned. And there will be updates on or around Mondays yet again.

Chapter Forty Five: My Sister's Keeper

Briefly, just after they had defeated Metalseadramon, Lucy wondered what would be left after they defeated the Dark Master that ruled the forest. She had a clue, with the gray and tan coloration of the third strip of mountain, but she was really hoping she had been wrong.

"Is it just me," Lucy drawled with some amount of annoyance, "or do we always end up trudging through some devilishly hot desert every time we go out to beat the bad guys?"

"It does seem like that, doesn't it?" Sora said, wiping sweat from her brow.

Currently, the group, aside from those who had separated for their own reasons, were walking down a long, paved road. The heat beating down from the sun, that Lucy was just beginning to notice didn't set anymore, was only matched by the heat rising up from the black top. It was downright stifling.

And one of their number was suffering for it even more than the others.

"This road has gotta go somewhere," Tai tried to reason, hoping to lift morale somewhat, but the fatigue in even _his_ voice wasn't very inspiring, "right?"

Lucy glance at Kari for a moment when she heard the younger girl wheeze and cough.

"I wouldn't count on it," Tentomon said, "Nothing is certain in the Digiworld."

The Digidestined of Light's face was flushed and she was sweating rather heavily. She was swaying side to side, almost like she was having trouble keeping her balance between each step. Lucy couldn't interpret the signs for what they were, she didn't know much about medicine after all, but she knew enough to tell that Kari was not feeling her best.

The eight year old coughed a couple more times, starting to fall behind.

"Are you okay?" Lucy laid a hand on Kari's shoulder then pulled it back in shock. Even through her gloves, Lucy was able to feel the fever the little girl had. She only had one option available to her.

"Tai!" she almost screamed the older boy's name. Just in time, too, as the eight year old finally lost control of her legs, nearly falling forward.

Tai turned around in time to see Lucy barely catch Kari from falling to the ground, "Kari!" the boy rushed forward, taking the weight of the girl out of Lucy's arms.

Almost as if through the providence of the powers that be in the Digiworld, they were able to quickly locate a small amount of shade in the vast desert. A covered bus stop. Next to the long road they had been traveling ever since they had defeated Puppetmon, it didn't seem all that out of place. Heck, the only thing out of place so far was them.

But, back to the point, they found the covered bus stop and a bench. Tai laid his sister on it and Lucy gave up her red, sleeveless hoodie for the younger girl to use as a pillow. Sora, who had a small amount of first aide training, stepped up to see what she could do.

As it turned out, very little.

"She has to stay out of the sun," Sora told the others, "And we've got to find a way to get her fever down, soon," she was trying to stay calm, but inside she was panicking. This was really, _really_ not good. All she had was bandages and antiseptic and the only one of them that might have something to treat Kari wasn't anywhere near them and they had no idea where to go to look.

The kids and digimon were crowded around the sickly little girl, none of them knowing what to do to help, but wanting to be close by, just in case there was an opening for them to do anything.

Gatomon, in particular, looked desperate to do _something_ but all she could offer was a promise, "Don't worry, I wont leave you," she swore to her human partner.

Kari was able to force her eyes open, a tired smile working its way on her face as she looked at her digimon, "Yeah." Her tone was so weak you almost couldn't hear her speaking.

Lucy could, for one, sympathize. She looked about as bad as Lucy had felt when Myotismon had put that fog around Odaiba. And one look at Tai told her that this wasn't the first time he'd seen her like this.

The grimace on the boy's face as he looked at the flushed face of his sister was only compounded by his words to the girl, "Why didn't you say something before now, Kari? If we'd known sooner, we could have rested until you felt better."

"You mad?" the eight year old breathed, "I didn't want to slow everyone down," she looked like she was about to say more, but the coughing started again.

If anyone had even the slightest inkling that Tai was angry with his sister, it was wiped from their minds when they saw him physically shift at her words and weak coughing. He seemed to sink slightly into himself, anger obviously the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

"I'm not mad," he said softly, and, even before his very eyes, the view of Kari shifted to a similar image of her laying on a gurney, insensate, being taken into an ambulance to the hospital. He couldn't bear it. It felt just like that time, too. He knew it was his fault. Kari was sick again and he was the only one to blame for it, just like last time.

He almost stumbled away from the bench they laid the little girl on, barely holding back the tears of frustration and guilt. Lucy took one look at the distraught boy and knew something had to be done before the boy did something stupid like traipsing through the desert looking for medicine and only ending up in worse condition than his sister. She sent a significant look at Izzy then nodded towards Tai. The boy blinked in confusion for a moment before realization lit in his eyes and he nodded.

"Sora, can you and TK handle this for now?" Lucy asked the older girl.

"Yeah, why?"

"Izzy and I are gonna talk with Tai, get a plan together to help Kari get better," the pink haired girl said, already moving over to the wild haired boy with Izzy right behind her.

"Okay," the red headed girl nodded, wetting the cloth that had been placed on Kari's forehead with what little water they had with them.

Skymomon, Tentomon and Agumon were still worrying over how they could help, so didn't notice the three kids move off to the side.

"Tai, are you alright?" Izzy asked the older boy.

"Yeah," the older boy breathed, looking out at the desert, "I'm fine. Kari's the one who's sick again," he clenched his fists at his sides and they could hear the fabric creak with the tensing of his muscles.

"Again?" Lucy asked, urging him to speak.

For a moment, silence, and the tension built as they could see Tai's form start to shake with barely contained emotion. He finally let out a breath and turned around to face them, his eyes cast downwards.

"I wasn't paying attention," Tai said to start off, "We probably shouldn't have even brought her along."

"Huh?" Izzy started at that statement, "What are you talking about? We had to bring her if we want to save the Digiworld! She's one of Digidestined! Have you forgotten that?"

"Not at all, but her being sick..." he trailed off for a moment, "We should have left her some place safe. We should have split up so some of us could take care of us while the others looked."

"Split up?!" the tech genius exclaimed, "Tai, this isn't like you!" That was an understatement. The normal confidence that you could find almost all the time on the boy's face was nowhere to be found. The grimacing smile he tried to put on for their sakes only further accentuated how out of his depth the boy felt. Lucy was there during his best and worst so far in this quest to save both worlds, but she had never seen the boy like this.

Put an enemy in front of him, he'd fight until his last breath to make sure everyone was safe. Put an obstacle in his path, he'd take the most forward, bull headed approach to it that one could possibly fathom. Put one of his friends in danger... as scary as he was when he had been trying to force Greymon to Digivolve, nothing beat his resolve face. This was a young man who knew the value of his actions through the pain of his mistakes.

And Lucy and Izzy were in front row seats as they watched him start to fade back into a helpless child who felt there was nothing he could do.

"I'm just really worried about her," Tai tried to assuage their fears, "It's all part of what I do to be a good leader, you two."

"Yeah, but-" the tech genius started again, but he was interrupted.

"Izzy! I found it!" Tentomon suddenly called as he buzzed over to the trio, "We're saved!"

"Huh? What did you find?" Lucy asked.

"First, allow me to Digivolve, then I can explain on the way. It would be best for Kari if we hurry," the insect digimon said in a slight hurry.

A spark of hope shone in Tai's eyes, and Izzy needed only to glance at the boy from the corner of his eyes to give the go ahead. Tentomon became Kabuterimon and, with some careful shuffling, everyone but Lucy and Skymomon got up on the giant, blue insectoid's back. Skymomon evolved into SkyYetimon and picked up her partner, and easily kept pace with the larger digimon.

"You see," Kabuterimon began, "While Sora was tending to Kari, I noticed a map of the bus schedule. It looked like there was a city nearby, so I decided to check it out," they had been in the air for, maybe, two minutes, when the giant bug pointed forward, "And there it is. You wanted civilization? Well, it doesn't get more civilized than this." The kids, except for Kari, looked on in awe when they realized they were approaching, not some small gathering of buildings that might be somewhat larger than the Yokomon village, but an honest to goodness _metropolis_.

"Whoa," Lucy breathed, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Is that America?" TK asked suddenly. If they weren't in the Digiworld, the others might have said yes. They were clearly looking at one a famous American city, "Do you think they have a bathroom?"

"That's New York City," Sora said, identifying the Chrysler building, then frowned as the flew over the buildings, "But that isn't," she pointed down to a circular structure on the ground that opened up on one side and had many carvings.

"That's Rome, we studied it in geography," Izzy supplied, then pointed towards another famous land mark that didn't belong, "And up there, that's the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. They're all smooshed together!"

"It's like that theme park in Florida!" Tai exclaimed.

"Except that this place is deserted," Sora pointed out, "There's not a sign of life anywhere."

"This is giving me a bad feeling," Lucy called out to the others, looking around the city for any sign of anyone that could be around, "Let's be especially careful!"

Kari, being held by her brother, let out a pitiful groan and the boy stopped admiring the city.

"Hey, Izzy, Kari's getting worse! Let's find some place to land!" The wild haired boy called out over the sound of Kabuterimon's wings buzzing.

"Oh, yeah. Right!" he started looking for some place suitable to their needs.

"Hey!" Lucy called, "Over there!" She pointed down to large house with big yard. No one argued the point so they landed and the two digimon de-Digivolved so they could get inside.

"This seems like a nice, quiet place," Sora said as they entered.

The first thing they did upon entering the house was find a room to settle Kari into. The house was pleasantly cool and the beds were soft, so it was perfect for the little girl to rest in. Once they were sure the girl was comfortable, everyone but Sora, who volunteered to watch over the little girl, went searching through the house for any kind of medicine or supplies they could get their hands on.

Even after a few moments of checking, their hopes were beginning to dwindle. The only thing they'd found so far were empty cabinets and drawers full of utensils they didn't need.

"These cupboards are empty," Izzy stated, "There's not even a spec of food."

"Hey!" Agumon called as he came running into the kitchen area that the others were searching, "This what you're looking for?" he held up a box to Tai. The boy looked at the small, cardboard box and a genuine grin spit over his face for the first time since they found out Kari wasn't feeling well.

"Alright!" He exclaimed getting the others' hopes up as well.

"Did you find some medicine?" Lucy asked, standing on a counter to reach the very top shelves.

"Yeah!" Tai said with a grin, "This ought to do the trick!" he lifted the tab and looked into the container, only for his hopes to be dashed, "It's empty!" Lucy watched the boys face go through such a dramatic change that, if she didn't know what was going on, she might think he was bipolar.

"Just like everything else," Izzy crossed his arms in frustration, "This place is weird."

Tai didn't really react to the words from the younger boy, just staring at the medicine box like it was the last line to his sister and it had just snapped. Something had happened before, Lucy knew it. It was bad enough that Kari was sick, but the girl's brother seemed to be going out of his mind with worry. And it was a slow descent.

Lucy watched as the boy firmed up his resolve to do... something. The rest of the group followed him up the stairs to the room they were keeping Kari in.

The moment he walked in, Gatomon turned to look at him, looking just as worried.

"Tai, humans aren't supposed to be this color, are they?" the cat digimon asked, referencing Kari's flush cheeks.

The boy shook his head, "Mm-mm." He could barely take his eyes off of the little girl.

"Well?" Sora urged him when the boy didn't seem like he was going to continue on his own.

"Nothing," Lucy said in his place, "There's nothing but empty cabinets and boxes in the entire house."

"Indeed," Izzy said, "We may have to extend our search into the city."

Tai nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid to leave if something happens, but she needs medicine."

Sora looked back at the eight year old girl, worry on her face as well, "She's stable, I think. All we can do now is hope her fever breaks soon," she turned to look at Tai again.

The wild haired leader of the group nodded once with resolution, "It will," he smiled then, a little weakly, at Sora, "At least I know I'm leaving her in good hands, with you."

"Don't worry," the girl smiled back at him, "Just be careful."

"Listen, Tai," TK said, getting the older boy's attention, "I want to come to. I wont get in the way, honest!"

"No way!" the brown haired boy said immediately, "You're my last line of defense! What if the Dark Masters come, huh? I need you here to look after the others."

That ws something the little blonde boy could get behind, "You can count on me!" he said with conviction, holding his fists before him, "Don't worry, I'm on the job!"

"Yeah! Leave it to us!" Patamon said from the top of his partner's head.

"I knew I could count on you guys!" he smiled at the little boy and his digimon.

+-9

Not even a half minute later, Tai, Izzy, Lucy and their digimon were out of the house and running through the streets, looking for some place they could find medicine.

"This place is deserted, but I still get the feeling we're being followed. Isn't that strange?" Agumon said as he ran along side Tai, almost missing it when the boy stopped to look back at the others.

"Izzy, Lucy, what are you doing? We gotta find that medicine for Kari!" Tai demanded of them, trying not to take out his anxiety as anger on them.

"Exactly," Izzy said , examining the cross section, he was standing at, "and I feel our time would be better spent going directly to the nearest supply instead of stumbling around in the dark and hoping we find it. Aha!" he said suddenly, spotting whatever it was he was looking for and running off to his right.

Tai looked to Lucy for and answer, but the girl and her digimon just shrugged, "Don't look at me, I just bet it will work." She followed the only person in the group that was her age.

They ended up following him to a red phone booth.

"This is the digital age, you two," he grinned as he pulled out his laptop and a cable, connecting the phone to his computer, "With this, we'll be able to find the medicine in a nanosecond."

"Good," Tentomon said, "I was beginning to get a cramp in my wing."

Izzy didn't ignore that, so much as just get to work without further comment. He tapped away at his keyboard, clicking the keys in the perfectly right order to access the information he needed. After a moment, a top down map popped up, with a large red dot in the center of it.

"Aha!" the tech genius smiled, "I knew it! There's an online map of the city!"

This cheered up Tai immediately, "Izzy, nice going! You're a genius!" he leaned forward and to Izzy's right to get a better view of the screen.

"Okay, now I'll search for hospitals and pharmacies," again, his hands flew across the keys like they were possessed and, in a scant few seconds, little yellow dots popped up all over the map, highlighting a number of buildings according to the search parameters. "Jack pot!" he grinned proudly, "Take your pick."

Lucy, who was standing outside the booth to keep it from getting too cramped, suggested, "Let's go to the closest one. Then spread out from there if they don't have the meds on hand."

"This one!" Tai poked a little yellow dot a block to the east of them, "Let's go!" he didn't give the others time to reply, turning around and almost flying out of the phone booth. Lucy was able to catch up quickly, but Izzy was left in the dust.

"Hey, wait for me!" he yelled after them, "I have to unplug myself!" he pulled the cord free and put everything away before making a quick sprint to catch up with the others.

+-9

Deep below the city, in a dark room with a large computer monitor, it was displaying the same map and information that Izzy's computer had. A half second later, the little yellow dots disappeared.

"They had logged off," came the nasally voice of one of the digimon in the chamber. He appeared to be a giant black gear with gold teeth and two little silver gears off to each side.

"Yes," said the gear digimon's twin, the same in every way except for his gravelly voice. The two of them turned around to face the solid metal digimon that was known as one of the most powerful Dark Masters, "My Lord Machinedramon, they had accessed maps and things for hospitals and pharmacies. Heyo!"

The gigantic machine digimon looked down at the little gear creature talking to him and said, in his sinister, whisper like voice, "And you're waiting for what? Show me those locations!"

"Right away, sir, there are, uh," the gear digimon turned around, bringing up the dots again, "there are, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve of them!" the creature counted quickly.

"Let me put this in words you can understand," the Dark Master growled at his minion, "Send units to all twelve locations and blow them up!"

"Oh, I get it now, blow them up! Yes, sir!"

"Consider it already done, My Lord," the other digimon said.

Even as they spoke, panels opened in walls and the digimon under Machinedramon's reign moved to obey their master's wishes.

"The little fools have swallowed the bait," he said aloud, "Now it is time to spring the trap."

Under the evil digimon's control were a number of digimon. First were the silvered Mekanorimon, next was an unfamiliar breed of green, tank like digimon that had long cannon barrels for noses and the lower body of a tank. Their hands were also replaced more guns and cannons. Next were a pair of large, flying digimon, each looking very serpentine up into their wings and arms, which ended in cannons like the tank digimon.

"Finally!" the blue serpentine digimon said as the ground slid aside to reveal him and his companion, "It was getting a little stuffy!" the two of them took to the sky, havoc on their minds.

+-9

Around the time this was happening, the small contingent of Digidestined and their partners had found a hospital and immediately began their search. The one thing that they immediately noticed was the now common absence of anyone aside from themselves.

"No wonder this hospital is so clean," Agumon said, looking around, "there's no sick people," he stood next to Tai in one of the waiting rooms, "Hello! Hello?" he called out, hoping someone would answer, but there was no such luck.

Tai was having a flashback, again to the time that Kari was sick. He stood in a waiting room not unlike this one when his mother came in, screaming his name, "_Tai!_" she'd screamed through her panting breaths, "_Do you have any idea what you've done?!_" he'd never seen his mother so angry before or since. He knew, in that moment, that was the worst possible way he could have ever messed up.

Back in the present, Tai's fists were shaking with self pointed rage, but he was managing to hold it in, if only barely.

"Tai?" Agumon asked, seeing the look on his face.

Before he could ask him what's wrong, Izzy and Tentomon showed up, waving their arms excitedly.

"Hey, come on! I found the pharmacy!" the techie yelled.

That got Tai and Agumon in gear, the two of them rushing to follow Izzy and Tentomon.

They found themselves in a big room with lots of shelves of medicine, but, for all they knew about the stuff on the shelves, it might as well have been in Chinese. Lucy and Skymomon were perusing the aisles, looking for anything they recognized, hoping that something would pop out at them.

"Well, there's lots of medicine alright," Tai said, holding two bottles before him, "But how do we know which one will get rid of Kari's fever?"

Izzy was sifting through the contents of a cabinet nearby when he said, "Strange as this may sound, I wish Joe were here. He might know what these are, his father's a doctor."

"That's a doctor's kid for ya," Tai whined half jokingly, "There's never one around when you need 'em."

"Hold on!" Izzy said suddenly, drawing the other kids' attention, "I can patch into the hospital's computer!" he moved to the phone, followed the cord to the outlet on the wall, then plugged in his laptop.

"Izzy shoots, he scores!" Tentomon exclaimed proudly.

"You know," Lucy said with a grin, "You're turning out to be one heck of a useful guy to have around."

Izzy gave a grin and a nod as he started typing, "Fevver reduction, Children."

+-9

Below the city, in Machinedramon's lair, the two gear digimon were surprised to find the the Digidestined had logged onto the network again.

"Sir, there they are!" One of the gears said.

Then the other turned to face him as he spoke, "The network is being activated from inside target four, master, sir!"

"Then it would be a good idea to converge on that target and prepare to attack," the evil machine digimon said, the growl in his whispering voice getting a little more anxious as he spoke.

"Oh! A brilliant idea, My Lord, sir!"

+-9

Just as ordered, all of the green, tank digimon showed up outside the hospital, soon followed by the Mekanorimon, and then the two flying digimon. The droves of the ground forces were almost overwhelming to behold and it made one shudder to think what the two airborne digimon could do since the two of them were the equal of the ground based units.

"After you, Megadramon," the blue one said.

"Oh, no, after you," the orange said.

+-9

Back in the pharmacy, Izzy had been quick to point out a bottle with the label 'ZE 22 Y-ZE'. Tai was just as quick to retrieve it, holding it out for the smaller, smarter boy to confirm the find.

"You're sure this is the right stuff?" he asked.

"It's as safe as childrens' aspirin," Izzy nodded.

"Good job!" Tai complimented, "Then let's get back!"

"Once outside, Sky and Tentomon can Digivolve so we get back faster," Lucy suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Skymomon said, her tail swishing happily.

+-9

"Fire!" Machinedramon roared. His minions didn't need to be told twice as they opened fire on the building in front of them, starting with the tank digimon.

+-9

Inside the building, the kids were nearly knocked off their feet as the hospital shook with the violent explosions. Lucy screamed and practically curled into a ball to wait out the shaking. Seconds later, the electricity was cut, leaving the small group in the dark.

"Hey, let's beat it!" Agumon suggested.

"C'mon, Lucy!" Tai said, taking the younger girl's hand and pulling her to her feet as they then ran for an exit. Their sprint came to an abrupt end though when they got to the exit, seeing tons of Mekanorimon lined up outside it, all chanting a rhythmic beat in grunts.

"It's a good thing we're in a hospital, because I think we're going to need one!" Tai said suddenly, "What are they?"

"I remember them," Lucy said, "They're, uh, Mek- Meki-, yeah, Mekanorimon!" a frown crossed her face, "These are some of the jerks that attacked the guardians, way back when!"

"Right," Agumon said, "I suggest we get out of here, and fast!"

Just as he was saying that, an even more mechanized voice came from within the evil digimon, "Target in range. _Twin Beam!_" the red laser blast shot out of the front of the digimon, hitting the door right beside the kids and causing it to shatter into data particles.

They yelped in fear at seeing this, watching as ever more blasts came in, getting closer and closer to hitting them until they turned tail and ran back the way they came, hoping to find an alternative exit. They rounded a corner to take them out of the immediate line of fire, but this was not to last as one of the tank digimon busted through a wall, laughing maniacally as he pointed his cannons right at the group.

"They brought along a friend," Agumon grimaced as the small group skidded to a halt, "Tankmon, an armor plated bully with a sneeze like a cannon! If you think the other guys are bad, these creeps have more fire power than a volcano!"

"I thought we lost them," Tentomon complained, "How did they find us so quickly?"

"One of them must have been following us and saw us come in here," Izzy surmised.

"Either way, we should decide whether to run or fight," Lucy interjected, "And we ain't got the time for a drawn out battle!"

"Right! Kari needs us to get back, pronto!" Tai said, looking to the bottle in his hand.

"Target in range," the machined voice of a Mekanorimon called, coming up behind them and boxing the kids in, "_Twin Beam!_"

Tankmon was next, shouting out his technique name as well, "_Hyper Cannon!_" A large green bullet shot out of the cannon that was his nose.

"Look out!" Tai yelled as he dove through a door to one side of the hall, the others following just in time to not be hit by the two attacks. Instead, they met in the middle and exploded, the flame and power washing back on the two digimon that fired them.

Tai, Lucy and Izzy were just barely able to make it out of the window in the room they dodged into to avoid the concussive blast and the fire as it exploded.

"C'mon!" Tai called, getting to his feet right away and taking off at a sprint, "We have to get away from here!"

"I second the motion," Lucy said as she ran along behind him.

"I third it," Izzy called, "Motion carries, let's get away from here!"

+-9

Some minutes later, having lost their targets, the minions of the Dark Master were patrolling the city en masse, searching every street and alley for the troublesome brats that their boss wanted taken care of. Their grunting chant filled the air all over the metropolis.

"I'm really beginning to hate that sound," Tai grumbled as he and Agumon were careful to keep out of sight as they viewed the creatures below, "When are they gonna give up and go home?"

"We don't have time for this!" Agumon exclaimed, "I'm gonna go down there and take care of them!"

"No, wait!" Izzy called out, getting their attention, along with Lucy and Skymomon's, both of whome were raiding the fridge of the break room in the office building they found themselves in. They didn't find much, but enough that would make a difference.

"What's up, Izzy?" the pink haired girl asked.

"Those rolling arsenals are just waiting for us, we show ourselves and they'll go ballistic!" the computer genius explained.

"So? We just hide here all day, is that it?" Tai demanded as he turned to fully face the younger kid. Lucy prepared to intervene. Everyone knew by now how much Tai preferred to take the fight to the enemy, and how much he wanted to get back to his sister, but now was not the time for a full out fight on the streets of this multinational city.

"Those machines are the only things moving out there so a map of the city's traffic flow will show us where they are," Izzy said, not even attempting to argue, just getting right to explaining his plan, "Then it's just a question of plotting the best course to avoid them." Neither Tai or Lucy had even seen him plug into the network.

Tai in particular was feeling sheepish for nearly snapping at the boy. He should have known that Izzy would have a plan, and one better than Tai's usual 'Rush in and hit it till it stops being evil' fall back.

"Yeah," he breathed, "Just might work."

"Of course it'll work!" Izzy grinned at the leader of the Digidestined, "There," he pulled up the map again. It showed the large red dot that was them, then a bunch of smaller blue dots that were flashing on an off and moving around the map, "You see? I've pinpointed every one of them."

"Good job, Izzy!" Tai said, repeating the praise he seemed to be heaping on the tech genius today.

"Yeah, not let's get this shindig rolling," Lucy said.

+-9

Back in the lair, a green cross hair moved across the map, pinpointing the location of the kids hiding out in the office building. One of the gear digimon noticed and immediately brought it to the attention of Machinedramon.

"Excuse me, Your Metalness," he announced, "They are accessing the network again, but the access point is relocated to sector B-Seventeen."

"Then relay those coordinates to all forces and attack," the Dark Master ordered.

Out in the city, the forces stopped patrolling and started converging on the poor Digidestined, the children and their partners as yet none the wiser about how they were being tracked.

"Well, it's about time!" one of the flying serpent digimon said as they closed in.

+-9

Izzy gasped when he noticed the dots stop moving around randomly and start to move towards the building they were in.

"Inconceivable!" he announced, drawing the eyes of Tai and Lucy.

"Incon-what? What now?" the taller boy asked.

"The machines! Everyone of them rotated in synch and now they're headed our way!" then he gasped as a thought came to him, "Of course!" he looked down at the cable connected to his laptop, "They're zeroing in on my computer connection!"

"In coming!" Agumon yelled.

The kids could on scream and run when they saw the giant orange digimon flying right for them, crashing through the window to get at them. Unfortunately for the massive digimon, this got him stuck, creating an opening.

Agumon took that opening.

"Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" The much bigger dinosaur then lined up his shot and fired, "_Nova Blast!_" The fire ball hit the giant flying digimon right in the eye, causing him to roar in pain and struggle to break out of the building. While he was busy with that, the kids and other digimon climbed up on Greymon's back and he quickly stomped away before the monster could break free.

+-9

In the observatory atop Spiral mountain, Piedmon was observing the goings on in Machinedramon's city with a sigh of disappointment.

"The plot sickens," he sighed again, "I had such high hopes that these little ones would put on a more entertaining show. But this? Really, it's too tiresome! Can we just get this over with and get on to something a little less tedious! There's no escape from Machinedramon!" He watched as the metal dino ordered his troops to fire on the brats' last known location, "He's designed for total anihililation. It's only a matter of time now before he catches them, and then it's game over," the evil phantom digimon closed his eyes and sighed yet again, "It's not fair that that overgrown can opener get's all the fun when I was _so_ looking forward to playing with them myself," he opened his red eyes to look back at the display screen again, then held up his wine glass, sloshing with pink liquid and said, "Farewell, little ones!"

+-9

As the floor they were in was coming to an end and more and more of Machinedramon's forces were arriving, they only had one option. Greymon sped up and took a running leap out of the third story window, then Digivolved again in mid fall.

"Greymon, Digivolve to Metalgreymon!" The winged cyborg dinosaur slowed their fall enough to keep the kids from getting hurt, but landed on a couple Tankmon with enough force to crush them and a shout of, "Get lost!" before he jumped away, dodging the sporadic fire of all the other evil digimon. And dodging around a building.

+-9

Down below, the nasally gear digimon turned to the Dark Master he served and said, "Oh, I've got a wee bit of bad news, they've escaped again, My Lord."

"And yet you're still here," the evil machine growled dangerously, beginning to grow tired of the incompetence his minions were showing. If the situation was not resolved soon, he would have to act on his own to destroy the twerps. He blank, black eyes focused on the screen again, glowering at it, willing the Digidestined to appear before him that he might have them crushed like bugs beneath his feet.

+-9

In a humongous cathedral, the three children and their digimon were able to find a temporary refuge.

"It's all my fault," Izzy confessed, "I was giving away our position every time I logged on with my computer. How could I have not thought of that before?"

Tai looked at Izzy, a frown form on his face before he couldn't take it anymore. If it weren't for Izzy and his stupid computer, those jerks never would have found them and they'd already be giving Kari the medicine she needed. He rushed forward, a look of anger on his face as he grabbed Izzy by the front of his shirt, gritting his teeth.

The tech genius yelped fearfully, as Tai spoke, "Good question! Now we're stuck here! Meanwhile, Kari's getting sicker and sicker, because of you!" Agumon and Tentomon moved forward, trying to break the two apart, but Tai's grip proved to be incredibly strong and they weren't even able to budge him.

"Hey!" Lucy suddenly yelled, coming over to the small group, a frown on her own face, "Let him go, Tai!" She ordered, her tone brooking no argument.

"Yeah Tai, what's come over you?" Agumon asked, still trying to pry his friends apart.

The rage left Tai's face all at once and he let go of the younger lad, shame coming over his face as he realized what he was doing, "I-I'm sorry, Izzy, Lucy," his breath hitched in his throught as he held back a sob, holding on hand to his face as he turned around and fell to his knees.

Lucy's frown dropped to be replaced by a look of worry, matched by Izzy's as the two approached the older preteen.

"Hey, Tai, this isn't your normal behavior," this was very worrying, the last time Tai had acted out of character... well, Skullgreymon. Enough said.

"Yeah, c'mon, big guy, you've gotta tell us what's bothering you so we can help out," Lucy added.

Tai was silent for a moment before he gathered in his breath to say, "It's Kari. She almost died once before, because of me."

The kids and digimon gasped at that. That couldn't be true, could it?

"It happened when she was four or five, just a little kid," he went on to say, a haunted look on his face as he remembered it again, "She stayed home from kindergarten one day because she was sick. I mean, I knew she was sick, but on the way home, all I could think about was playing soccer. I wanted to go out and play, but I didn't want to leave her by herself, so I took her outside with me. She seemed okay, really," he grinned sheepishly, pleadingly, asking for them not to treat him like some monster, then he went back to that haunted look, "I kicked the ball to her, and when she kicked it back it veered way off course. I went and got it, but when I turned back she had collapsed, right there in the play ground.

"When we got to the hospital, I'd never seen my mom so angry before," he unconscious rubbed his left cheek, remembering the only time his mother had ever hit him. She apologized for it later, of course, promised him that she didn't mean to do it and that she'd never do it again, and she'd kept to that, but the look in her eyes at the time, the words she'd said, "_What were you thinking?! You knew she was sick!_" and the sobs that came after, he'd never forget them. He'd never forgive himself.

"She ended up with Pneumonia or something," he said after a couple of moments when he thought about that horrible day, the most shameful day in his past, "She almost didn't make it. But what really kills me is what she said when they brought her home from the hospital," he paused, his voice quavering, "Dad had her over his shoulder, and both mom and dad were smiling, just glad to have her back, then, the first words out of her mouth," he held back another sob, "She said she was sorry for not kicking the ball right! She thought I'd never play with her again!" he finally allowed the tears to fall, not caring if they saw him crying any longer, "That's Kari, she never thinks about herself. It doesn't matter if she feels bad, or if she's bummed out about other stuff, she's always worried about the other kids!" he leaned a little further forward, "She wouldn't be sick, she'd be just fine, if she never came to this stupid place! But she came because she knew that we needed her help! She never thought about what she wanted, she never does!" he squinted his eyes shut, the tears pouring out freely.

Lucy was silent as she moved forward and placed a gentle hand on the back of their leader. She had no idea what to say about that, but she could at least be there for him like he always was for everyone. He may not realize it, but he had a lot in common with his little sister.

"It's because she cares," Izzy tried to explain.

"She's a kid!" Tai exclaimed, "I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to look after her and protect her and think of what's best for her!" he clutched the bottle of pills in his hand, "That's what I'm _supposed_ to do!"

"Oh, Tai," Agumon said softly, moving forward to comfort his brother.

"It's what you are doing," Lucy said to him softly.

"Well, it sure doesn't feel like it," he said in a half sob.

"Hey, who else do you know who's running through a city filled with monsters just to bring his little sister some medicine?" the pink haired girl asked, "You may not see it right now, but you aren't failing Kari. Yeah, she's sick, but we've got medicine. Yeah, it's dangerous, but we've got our digimon," She sent a pointed look at Tentomon, Agumon and Skymomon, "And yeah, she's young, but she's got _you._"

Tai looked up at her, the tears beginning to slow.

"How many times have you jumped through deadly hoops just to save a few kids you barely knew from half a day at summer camp?" Lucy asked, then didn't wait for him to reply, "Too darn many! And that was just for us, and look at what you're doing right now! I know, _all of us_ know, that if you had a ghost of a chance, you'd be out there, moving heaven and earth to get these meds to Kari. You aren't a terrible brother, Tai," she smiled at him encouragingly, "I couldn't imagine a better one if I tried."

Tai wiped his eyes and looked up at the girl, a small smile lighting up on his face.

"On that note," Izzy interjected, a smirk of his own on his face, "I think I have a plan."

He led the group into the back office of the cathedral and opened he laptop, "It would be ridiculous to try to break through them, but maybe we can use their own surveillance techniques against them," the tech genius started tapping away furiously again.

"You're not going online again, are you?!" Tentomon quailed.

"Yes," the boy admitted with his smirk in place, "but this time, I know what I'm doing. I've got a program that will throw them off our trail," he plugged in the phone cord to connect to the local network and continued, "I'm going to mask our access point. It's a little trick a computer programmer taught me once."

"Yeesh, Izzy, someday you're gonna tell us that it can dice and chop vegetables, too," Lucy joked.

The boy just grinned, "Given enough time..."

+-9

"There they are again!" one of the gear digimon pointed out excitedly, then blinked when he saw what was happening across the screen, "Whoa! Um, Boss, uh, there are now dozens of access points, all over the map!" indeed, All across the screen, yellow blips were flashing on and off, displaying every place that a person _could_ access the netowrk.

"Does this mean what I think it does, My Lord, Sir?" the other digimon asked turning to face the Dark Master.

"That you have a brains of a tin can?" the evil digimon asked rhetorically. If he had teeth to grind, he would be doing so. First, one of those little punks give him the divot on the very top of his head, then they destroy two of the other Dark Master, and now they had the nerve to play around in his city? This would not stand.

+-9

"What are those?" Tentomon asked as he looked at the screen of the laptop, seeing all the little blue dots.

"Those are the enemy digimon," Izzy explained.

"They're not moving," Tai pointed out.

"That's because the program worked and they don't have a clue where to look for us," the computer genius's smirk was on full blast now, "Prodigious!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" the preteen said with enthusiasm.

They quickly ran out of the cathedral, making their way back home, in higher spirits now that they'd fooled the bad guys.

+-9

"I'm bored with this game of cat and mouse," Machinedramon said, "Initiate plan Elimin-8!"

The gear digimon balked at that idea, turning to look at their master.

"Elimin-8?" one of them asked, "What about Elimin-9?"

"Are you actually questioning me?" He looked down at the tiny little digimon that he was about to crush if they did so again, "Initiate plan Elimin-8, now!"

"No, sir! Yes, sir!" they both said together before turning back to the screen and speaking over the comm, "Attention, initiate plan Elimin-8!"

"I'm glad you agree," Machinedramon said mockingly, "Fire at will!"

+-9

"Can I blow something up?" the orange monster asked as he flew far above the city with the blue one.

"I don't know," he got back, "Can you?"

They were so large and eye catching that Tai, Lucy and Izzy could easily spot them, and hid from view as they passed. TK was even able to spot them from the window of the house where they were keeping Kari, his jaw dropping as he saw them moving through the air and begin opening fire on... everything!"

"_Darkside Attack!_" the orange one yelled, opening up the gauntlets on the ends of his arms and shooting out yellow balls of explosive energy.

"Man," Tai said as they peeked around a corner at the evil digimon, "what a waste of ammo. They're way off."

"I don't think they're shooting at us," Tentomon theorized.

"Huh?" Izzy balked, just getting it, "No, it can't be!"

"He's right," Lucy said, her eyes widening, "They're gonna blow up the whole city!"

"That's Megadramon!" Tentomon informed them, pointing to the orange one, "A fully digivolved flying fiend with devastating destructive powers!" he then pointed to the blue digimon, "The other one's Gigadramon! If anything, he's more powerful than his buddy! Believe me, if these two were shooting at us, we wouldn't still be here talking about it!"

"It looks like my plan may have backfired on us," Izzy said dejectedly as he looked at the screen of his computer.

"How do you figure that?"Agumon asked.

"It appears they've decided searching for us is too much trouble, so instead, they're just gonna level the city and everybody in it!" The kids and digimon gasped.

"You've gotta be kidding!" Tai said in shock.

"Skymomon, you've gotta digivolve and take us back to Kari!" Lucy said.

"Right!" The little blue monkey hopped off her shoulder to o as ordered.

+-9

"Back in Machinedramon's lair, they were watching the screen and more and more areas of the city were reduced to rubble, the two little gears rattling off destroyed sector as it happened.

"That's it for sector A and B. What a mess!"

"Megadramon and Gigadramon have begun operations in sectors C and D," the other said as the aforementioned areas of the map began flashing red, "Those children are sneaky."

"Soon, there will be no place left to hide, and this game will abruptly end!"

+-9

Just as Skymomon was becoming SkyYetimon, the shadow of Megadramon passed over head.

"Oh no!" Tentomon quailed, "He's heading right for where the others are hiding!"

"No!" Tai exclaimed.

"I hope they see him coming!"

"Can you get us there before him, Sky?" Lucy asked her partner. The winged yeti nodded and picked up the group in her large arms and took off, staying low, but flying as fast as she could. It ended up taking left than half a minute to get there and, by the time they did, the building was still standing.

"Safe and sound," Izzy said with a sigh of relief as they were let out of SkyYetimon's grip, "everything's okay!"

Tai smiled in relief and began to run towards the building, "We're back, Kari!" he shouted happily. Before he could even get close, a rocket dropped out of the sky on the other side of the house, blowing it up in a pillar of flame and knocking the kids on their butts.

"No," Lucy gasped, looking up at the crater that used to be where they left Kari and the others.

"The building's gone," Izzy said in a state of shock.

"No! No way!" Tai shouted, getting to his feet, "It can't be!" he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "_Kari!_"

"Look out!" SkyYetimon called.

"Here comes one more!" Izzy pointed to a missile flying right towards them, getting the three kids to scream in fear.

Before it could hit them though, an orange beam of light shot out of the bushes from off to the side, sending the missile back into the air to explode harmlessly above them.

"Angemon!" Agumon called out, prompting the others to look behind them at the six winged angel digimon that was floating in the air.

"But that means..." Izzy started, but was interrupted as TK burst out of the bushes.

"Hey, what's up? You look tired," he grinned at them.

"TK!" Tai exclaimed, never so happy to see the little boy in his life.

"Biyomon!" Tentomon pointed out next as she, then Gatomon and finally Sora carrying Kari revealed themselves.

"And the Others!" Agumon exclaimed.

"Kari! You're okay!" Tai jumped over the bushes, coming up to Sora and TK with a big grin on his face.

"Actually, you look better than okay," Izzy added.

"You guys scared the bejeebus out of us, you know?" Lucy said with a relieved grin.

"We thought we better get out when they started blowing things up," Sora explained with a grin.

"And I led the way!" TK said with a proud smile, "I took care of 'em, like you said!"

"I never doubted you!" Tai told him, his smile still growing.

But the moment of levity was over when beam of yellow light split open the asphalt and an unwanted intruder showed up right beside them.

"Machinedramon!" Agumon called out needlessly when the Dark Master appeared.

He just looked down at the six kids and their digimon, "You can't rely on scrap metal if you want the job done right."

"Take cover, everybody!" Tai yelled, leading them into a building to hide from the monster's immediate sight.

"That's right," Machinedramon drawled, "scurry away," as he spoke, the red tubes that fed into his back mounted cannons began to bulge with the fuel being pumped through them, "Ask any rat catcher, the chase is part of the fun!" The barrels lit up with their sickly yellow light, charging up with monstrous amounts of power, "_Giga Cannon!_" He laughed evilly as he watching the building start to collapse and heard the screams of fear from the brats.

Inside, the floor collapsed beneath them, sending the kids into the abyss below, Kari waking up just in time to scream as she fell.

"Ah! Help me, Tai!" She screamed as she reached out for him.

"Kari!" The boy cried, reaching for her as well, but it was a fruitless endeavor.

The only consolation he could see was that Sora, TK, and Lucy were all falling in roughly the same direction as his little sister, and maybe they could protect her long enough for him and Izzy to catch up to them again.

+-9 Chapter Forty Five: End.

Please Enjoy.

Now, again, sorry for the lateness of this chapter. And I have a question for anyone reading this. In season two, I'm gonna start pairing off the kids. The obvious two couples will be TKxKari and KenxYolei. In particular I want to know if I should pair Lucy with a character from the show or make another OC for her to go with. I have splendid ideas for either side of that coin, I'd just like to know your opinions.


	46. The Crest of Light

Number one, if I've timed this right, I should be posting this chapter on my birthday. You can consider it my birthday present to you, the reader.

Second, thank you to those of you who told me your opinion on what to do with Lucy's HEA in part two. I am taking all the ideas and requests into consideration. Just know that even if I do pick the specific one you wanted to see it will not come into full effect until, at the very least, the end of part two.

Chapter Forty Six: The Crest of Light

Deep beneath Machinedramon's city, in the massive, yet surprisingly clean sewer system, a cat and two kids were awaiting the return of, hopefully, everyone else in their group.

Gatomon looked at Kari worriedly, hoping she would get well quickly, "How long do humans usually sleep when they're sick, TK?"

"It's hard to guess, Gatomon," the little boy said, "But it's anywhere between eight hours and eight years, give or take a minute or so," the blonde boys voice echoed off the enclosed walls cheerfully as he kept his vigil over the only other member in the group that was his age.

"Wow," the cat digimon said, stunned, "Then, considering how high her fever is, we'd better get comfortable."

As the digimon spoke a single drop began to fall from the high ceiling unnoticed by the boy or the cat.

"I wish one of the older kids were here," TK said gently, "I bet they'd know how to wake her up."

The drop fell from the ceiling at the usual speed, but the distance to it's target was taking some time. It passed by windows and archways on its way down that, if the drop were able to stop and admire them, it was realize that this underground network was far more than just a sewer. It was almost like a city.

"You'll think of something, TK," Gatomon assured the eight year old.

And then, just as she finished, the drop found it's mark, splatting harmlessly against the sleeping Kari's cheek. The little girl gave a soft sigh and turned her head a little, causing TK and Gatomon, who were crouched right beside her to pay even closer attention.

"See!" the cat chirped, "I knew you'd think of something!"

"I'm still not sure that woke her," the boy said.

Kari opened her eyes then, her bright mahogany spheres taking in the dark greys and blacks of this place. She sat up with a start then, not remembering how she got here. Her last solid memory was riding on Kabuterimon towards a city.

"I could be wrong," TK said with a grin.

"Hi, Kari!" Gatomon said, her relief at seeing her partner feeling better almost palpable.

The little girl looked at the leaves that covered her for a moment before bringing herself into a full sitting position. She blinked her eyes once as she looked at her two friends and said, "Hit the snooze button," she requested, "one more time. Please?"

"You've slept enough," the boy waved away her plea, then asked, "How do you feel?"

Kari put a hand for her forehead, closing her eyes as she focused on feeling if she was still sick, "I think my fever's gone. So, how long was I asleep for?" she looked at her friends again.

"Let's just say that, when you fell asleep I had nine lives, and now I'm only down to three," Gatomon joked.

Then the little girl noticed it was only them, "Where is everybody?"

TK bowed his head and Gatomon's ears drooped. That was answer enough for the moment.

They sat in silence for a moment or two, probably hoping that their friends were safe. Then the soft _whap, whap, whap_ of wings beating against the air reached the boy's ears and grin split his face as he looked off to the side.

"Hey! I hear Patamon!"

"I wonder if he's found anyone," the cat digimon said next, looking in the same direction. Kari hummed for a moment as she looked the way they were. Immediately the three of them could see Patamon's silhouette along with two others, both of them bigger than him. One was definitely a human and the other a digimon, the question was-

"Who is that with Patamon?" The eight year old boy asked.

A couple steps closer to the group and the shadowed figures became visible.

"It's Biyomon!" Gatomon exclaimed happily.

"And Sora!" Kari said next.

"Kari, you're awake," Sora said, stunned for a moment, then she smiled in relief, "You look so much better!"

"Have you seen Tai and the others?" the little girl asked brightly.

The red headed girl sighed as her smiled dropped from her face and she shook her head, "Mm-mm. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find them. My guess is that when we all fell, Tai, Izzy and Lucy landed somewhere else."

"I hope they're alright," Kari said a little dejectedly.

"Don't worry, Kari," TK told the little girl, trying to keep his friend from becoming mopey.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Sora said suddenly, reaching into her hip pouch, "Look what Biyomon found!" she held out a brown bottle with the label E 22 Y-ZE, "I'm sure it's the bottle of medicine Tai went out to find for you," the older girl handed it to Tai's little sister, "Why don't you keep it in case your fever comes back. You can use it as a reminder of Tai's love for you."

Kari looked at the bottle, thinking about what must have happened for them all to end up down here and her brother still ended up getting her the medicine she needed. There was no question in her mind, she had the best big brother in the world. Both worlds.

"This place has a lot of twists and turns to it," Biyomon spoke up next, "I'm sure, if we all work together, we'll have no problem finding the others."

"Right!" TK agreed enthusiastically, "We'll work as a team!"

"Yeah," the little girl said finally smiling over at the little blonde boy, "I'll try to be strong enough to help, too. After all," she cupped the medicine bottle in her hands, "Tai would do the same for me."

The kids and digimon then picked themselves up, chose a direction and started walking.

"This place is like a museum of the famous sewer systems of the world," Sora said after only a few minutes of traveling and seeing the layout change several times already.

"I'll pass on the odor exhibits," Gatomon quipped, getting a snort of laughter from Patamon.

"Too late for that," the little wing eared digimon said.

"Stop!" Sora said after a few moments of silence, "Listen, do you guys hear something?" she held her hands up to her ears trying to pick up the sound better. The three kids and digimon went silent for a couple seconds and suddenly they could hear the mechanical clicking of something running.

"Yeah," TK said, "I can hear it right now, too."

"What do you think it could be?" Kari asked.

"I don't know, but," Sora turned her head slowly, "it sounds like it's coming from over there," she faced forward again, "Let's take a look!" with that, the children and their partners jogged forward. If they were lucky, it would be their missing friends and if they weren't... well...

Some distance away, in a room with many spinning gears, the shadow of a large digimon could be seen against the wall, lashing a whip at someone, digimon or human it was yet to be known.

"Work! Work!" the evil digimon shouted, "Keep working or else!" he pulled back the whip and lashed it as hard as he could, "I said _work_, you lazy Numemon!"

It would turn out that the room was filled with dozens and dozens of the little green slime digimon, all of them wearing collars that chained them to the gears or giant hamster wheels, making the entire operation run.

The one standing over them was a giant Teddy bear. Unlike Monzaemon, who the children met back on File Island, this teddy was all bad attitude, no black gear needed. The majority of his fur was black, except for his stomach and snout, and he wore a blood red cape over his shoulders. On his left paw, three razor sharp claws were held in place by several leather straps. The stitching on his stomach had broken open at some point to show an eerily glowing yellow eye inside, hinting at something even more evil lurking inside.

"You Numemon make me sick!" the evil digimon growled at the slave laborers, "If you didn't have such a weakness to sunlight, we would have to keep you working underground to power Machindramon's city on spiral mountain! You deserve to live in the sewers! Now, get back to work before I really get mad!" he lashed at them with the whip again.

It was this scene that the children found themselves witness to as they stood on a catwalk above the ground floor. Kari was holding onto the railing, a look of shocked revulsion on her face. How could anyone treat another person like that? Even if they were digimon.

"Isn't that Monzaemon?" TK asked making the connection to the yellow digimon from way back when, "What happened to him? He used to be so cuddly!"

"That's not Monzaemon, TK," Patamon answered, "That's Warumonzaemon."

Biyomon continued with what she knew of the evil creature, "Monzaemon used to be sweet and cute, but _Waru_monzaemon is about as cuddly as a porcupine! His Bear Claw will give you heart burn, along with his Heart Break attack!"

"Big meanie!" Kari said to that.

"He's torturing those poor Numemon down there!" the bird digimon exclaimed.

"How can one kind of puppet digimon be so nice while another one can be so evil?" Sora marvelled with a frown on her face.

Kari however was no longer in the marveling mood. She could just sit here and do nothing while that monster treated the Numemon so badly. Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes as she tried to figure out what she could do to help them. She absolutely had to do something, there was no other alternative.

Back down on the ground floor the evil teddy started speaking again, "I've been too hard on you guys, I think you need a break," just as the Numemon might have started to believe him, the evil digimon shouted, "Okay, breaks over!"

"I wish," Kari grunted, "we had more power," her strength began to leave her, but at the same time she started glowing. Not her crest, but the girl herself took on a white ethereal glow.

"Kari!" Sora panicked as the girl collapsed again, she and the digimon crowing around the girl.

"Did she get sick again?" TK asked, really hoping that wasn't the case.

But that was shoved to the back of their minds when the glow around the little girl began to shine brighter and brighter until she started to light up the whole room. It even attracted the attention of the slime digimon who stopped working to stare at the light in wonderment.

"Hmm?" Warumonzaemon questioned in a growl as he turned to see his slaves slacking off, "What's going on here?" he pulled his arm back to lash the whip at them again, "Get back to work!" And even though he was hitting the Numemon with the whip, they didn't react at all to his commands.

Up on the catwalk, the kids were more concerned with Kari, the little girl's head resting in Sora's lap for the moment. The light that came from the girl was soothing, but not enough to assuage their fears for the girl's health.

But the glow had finally attracted the attention of the evil digimon down below, "Huh? The Digidestined?"

"He know's we're here!" Sora cried.

The digimon started running towards them, waving the whip in the air above his head, "Somebody's been sleeping in my bed!" he quoted from the Goldilocks story as he charged at them.

"C'mon!" the elder girl cried out as the tugged Kari to her feet and the small group ran for their lives through the doorway behind them.

Warumonzaemon then used the rope like a grappling hook, using it to wrap around the catwalk and pull himself up there to chase them back the way they came.

"There they are now!" the even teddy landed with such weight that he bent the walkway, then burst through the doorway with ease, breaking the wall around it like it was so much paper insteal metal and stone.

The Numemon saw all this and despaired, knowing that their master was about to douse the source of that soothing light.

But instead of waning, the light grew stronger and stronger until it once again gathered the attention of the slime digimon. The looked on as Gatomon helped the still glowing Kari back out on to the catwalk. Sora and TK must had acted as a distraction to let the two of them slip away while they led the evil digimon on a merry chase through the sewers.

"Kari, Kari," the Numemon began to chant softly.

The little girl turned to her partner and spoke in a voice that was hers and yet... not. It sound far more... regal.

"Gatomon, please leave me here," the glowing girl said, "I need to free the Numemon from their chains. Do you understand?" she asked as she stood under her own power.

"I guess so," the cat digimon mumbled, more worried for her partner than anything else. She followed Kari as the little girl started to walk down to the Numemon, pulling off their shackles.

+-9

Sora held her hands to the side of her face, wiggled her fingers and waggled her tongue out of her mouth at the black teddy bear.

"Catch us if you can, you big throw rug!" The girl called back to him as she turned and ran, TK and their digimon right in front of her.

"I'll get you!" Warumonzaemon roared as he stomped along behind them.

Biyomon decided it was time to stop running and start fighting. She reached for that connection to Sora deep inside her and began to draw on that magical energy to Digivolve.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to..." but nothing happened, "Hey! What happened?"

"Patamon, Digivolve to..." TK's partner tried next, but the result was the same, "Wait a second, I'm still me!"

"You guys must be low on energy!" the red head girl theorized as they kept running.

"What do we do now, Sora?" the little boy asked.

"Running comes to mind," the twelve year old quipped as they kept up their desperate pace.

Eventually, though, they ran out of space to run, coming to an unfortunate dead end. Before the could even think of turning around, Warumonzaemon was right behind them with his arms crossed and a sadistic chuckle on his cloth lips.

He did a couple of Karate stances for show then pulled back his left arm, the one with the claws, and shouted out the name of his attack, "_Bear Claw!_" the humongous limb darted forward. It was all the children could do to just barely avoid being hit, the attack instead hitting the wall.

"Watch out!" Sora cried, ducking to one side.

"Grah! My claw is stuck!" Warumonzaemon growled as he turned to look at the kids.

"Let's get out of here!" Biyomon's partner suggested and no one disagreed.

"Wait!" the monster roared, "Lend me a hand! Literally!" when he saw they weren't even considering it, he turned around and placed his other three limbs against the wall and grunted as he tried to pull his claw free. After a couple of seconds he pulled himself free and landed in a roll. He curled into a ball and kept on rolling, continuing to chase the kids this way now. "It's time to play Bowling For Digidestined!"

As they continued running back the way they came, towards where they left Kari, something came over the digimon, their eyes going wide and starry.

"Sora, something wonderful is happening to me! I've never been able to fly this fast before!" Biyomon announced to her partner.

"Me too!" Patamon gushed, "Watch me go faster than a jet!"

"I don't care what you're faster than," Sora told them, TK under one arm so she could run faster with out worrying about him being left behind, "as long as you're faster than a giant, rolling teddy bear!"

+-9

Just outside of the room with all the gears, Kari and Gatomon were surrounded on all sides by Numemon paying heed to their savior.

"Queen Kari," they bowed, "Queen Kari," they repeated as they looked at the glowing little girl holding Gatomon's paw in on hand, "Queen Kari."

The girl in question giggled happily as the glow faded, smiling at all the little digimon.

"The Numemon," Gatomon gasped, "think you're their queen." the cat looked up at her partner in wonderment. The human girl just smiled back at her while the Numemon repeatedly bowed, saying 'Queen Kari' over and over.

But the moment was not to last.

On a small landing just above the floor of this room, there was a set of double doors that opened in a rush, allowing Sora, TK and their digimon entrance into the room. Unfortunately, the girl was running to fast to stop at the sudden ledge and the two humans fell to the ground floor with shouts of fear.

Once they realized they had landed safely, they looked up to realize that the recognized the person standing before them.

"Kari?" Sora question. The girl was looking magnitudes better than when they had parted ways. She wasn't glowing anymore, but she was standing under her own power and the smile on her face seemed to say that everything was going to be okay, no matter what.

Their confusion only grew when the Numemon kept calling her by the moniker 'Queen Kari' repeatedly.

"_Queen_ Kari?" the group asked.

The ground shook before an elaboration could be made and a voice they'd rather not have heard, roared over the room, "I'm back! Ha ha ha ha!" Warumonzaemon laughed, then he frowned down at the little slime digimon, "Hey, you Numemon, what are doing out here? Is it time for your flogging?"

The Numemon, instead of cowering away from him, as he would have expected, frowned at him, growling their defiance.

"Don't just sit there staring! Get back to work!" Warumonzaemon shouted at them.

Kari walked towards the evil digimon then, a frown on her face. The kids moved out of her way, curious as to what she was about to do and praying that it wouldn't get her hurt.

"Hey! Who cut your chains off?" the evil digimon demanded.

"I did," Kari said with an undercurrent of steel in her Queen voice, "Got a problem?"

"Kari! No!" Sora cried, thinking that the little girl was about to get herself hurt.

"You're through!" Warumonzaemon roared.

That was the only thing the Numemon needed to hear, jumping as one at the monster that had threatened their queen.

"Get off of me you green slobs of sludge!" the evil monster roared as he swatted angrily at the little slime monsters, "I'll beat the stuffing out of you!"

"No, Numemon!" Kari gasped before she fell over again, Gatomon, barely getting their in time to catch her.

"Kari!" the cat digimon cried.

"You really think you have a chance against me?!" Warumonzaemon half laughed. The Numemon didn't bother answering, just jumping on him en mass. "Ha ha! Come on! Give it your best shot! This is easier than swatting digi-flies!"

Even as he spoke the words, the black teddy knocked the Numemon back with little difficulty, knocking the most of them out in only seconds. Few stayed conscious for more than a few seconds, but even then they were soon to be knocked out due to injuries.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Warumonzaemon swirled his right arm above his head so fast it became a blur, "_Heart Break Attack!_"

Kari's eyes snapped open and the glow returned a hundred fold, canceling out the attack.

"Where's that light coming from?!" the evil teddy stumbled away from the source, trying to block his eyes from the pain.

"Kari," Gatomon gasped again as she looked at her partner, "what's happening? I'm surging with energy! Quick, get me a scratching post!"

Kari once more stood up, the light coming from her healing all the Numemon and filling the childrens' partners with much needed energy.

The girl glared at the evil digimon that had back himself against the wall, but said nothing, instead allowing her digivice to do the talking. The device turned pink as the light of Digivolution shot though her Crest and the symbol of Light was absorbed into Gatomon's body, turning her into Angewomon.

"Gatomon, Digivolve to Angewomon!"

And she wasn't the only one.

"Biyomon, Digivolve to Birdramon!"

"Patamon, Digivolve to Angemon!"

Warumonzaemon looked at the forces arrayed against him and just glared harder, "Oh, ganging up, huh?! I'll put you to work, too! What do you think of that?!"

Birdramon lifted into the air to give him her reply, "_Meteor Wing!_" and the others were quick to follow.

"_Hand of Fate!_"

"_Celestial Arrow!_"

Warumonzaemon was not so full of false bluster that he thought he could take all three of those attacks and not go down. He whipped around, made his way through the large double doors behind him, and closed them right after him, "That should keep them out!"

But it was not to be. The three attacks combined to make one huge, purifying explosion that knocked the door off its hinges and sent the evil teddy flying.

Back in the room, after the threat of the evil digimon had passed, some of the Numemon were resting after the fierce battle they had just fought.

The glowing Kari picked up one of the smaller Numemon, holding it in her hands, "No more chains, Numemon," the steely tone to her voice was gone, the it was still the voice of the queen. TK was watching her with a look of awe on his young face.

A few steps away, Sora held another little digimon in her palms, the little monster starting to dance happily, getting the girl to giggle at his antics.

"They're cute when they're not so slimy," the red head smiled before she set the little guy down.

"I love you, Queen Kari," the Numemon she held said as she set him down.

"You're sweet," the little girl said, once again sounding like herself and the glow began to grow brighter again.

"That light again," TK gasped, "Look at it!"

The light turned into a single beam that pointed out the doorway behind the little girl, back into the massive sewer system.

"My light will guide us towards the others," Kari said, looking in the direction they should go to find their friends.

"Hm?" Sora hummed inquiringly and looked to TK.

"Don't look at me, but think it's like this night light I used to have that guided me towards the bathroom," the little boy told her.

"Oh," the older girl then turned to the hold of the Crest of Light, "Well, Kari, I hope your light doesn't run out of batteries."

"Hmm," the little girl intoned before beginning to walk forward, "I'll lead the way. Follow me."

All the Numemon just watched the girl they had named their queen with endless devotion and admiration in their eyes.

+-9

Elsewhere in the underground, Monzaemon stood in a room full of computers and specifically one humongous screen. The screen displayed the face of his master Machinedramon, and he was explaining what had happened to him not to long ago.

"Well, you see, Lord Machinedramon, it's actually a pretty funny story," he was gibbering uselessly in his nervousness.

"Stop stalling and tell me what happened, Warumonzaemon!" the whispery growl came over the speakers, "That is, while you are still able to talk."

"Er, yes, Your Metalness, you see," the evil teddy began again, "I found the Digidestined!"

"They were in your area?" the Dark Master demanded.

"Yes, and I was going to capture them for you, too, but this one little girl was really strong, and then the Numemon were biting me, and-" tears started gathering in the ruffled digimon's eyes, but it failed to sway Machinedramon.

"Enough!" the metal monster leaned in closer to the camera while his minion panicked, waving his arms in the air, "If you thought that puny little girl was tough, wait 'til I get through with you! Why didn't you alert me, you two bit carnival prize?"

The black furred digimon turned away from the screen, holding his stomach like he'd just been punched and sobbed out, "I wanted to tell you sooner, but they wounded me," he turned back around to look at his boss, "Look at my owies and boo-boos!" he clasped his paws together in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Machinedramon said suddenly, "I should be more sympathetic after your grueling battle. Let me reward you for helping me locate the Digidestined," his words allowed a false sense of relief to fill the evil teddy bear, but it was short lived.

Only seconds after he spoke, the entire room exploded with red fire and smoke, rendering Warumonzaemon into nothing more than data that streamed up towards the top of Spiral Mountain.

+-9

In yet another section of the massive underground network, a very familiar voice could be heard echoing around the tunnels.

"Kari!" Tai cried out in distress, "Where are you?" the boy was followed by Izzy, Tentomon and Agumon. The yellow dino digimon in particular was starting to feel the strain. He'd already been pushed pretty far today, having to Digivolve to fight Machinedramon's minions in the city above, then having to take that attack that sent them down here, and now Tai's unrelenting search for his sister.

The poor digimon couldn't take it anymore and simply collapsed with a pitiful whine.

"Agumon! What are you doing, laying down at a time like this?" the boy demanded of his partner.

"I'm sorry, Tai, I'll try to keep up," Agumon said, even though his pace only grew slower after he struggled to his feet, not quicker.

"You know, Tai," Izzy said as he turned to his older friend, "That's the fifth time he's collapsed," behind the tech expert, Tentomon and Agumon were gasping for breath, "Call me crazy, but I think we need to rest for a little while."

Tai seemed to consider it for a moment, holding his hands before him, but he then moved forward, cupping the hands around his mouth, "Kari!"

Izzy sighed sadly, the soft touch wasn't working. Time for something less nice.

"That's right, just let our digimon die!"

"Huh?" the two digimon intoned as one, looking at the techie.

"Oh, sorry guys, it's just a figure of speech," then he turned back to their leader, "I'm pretty tired, too, Tai. Why don't we rest? Then we can commence our searching again."

Tentomon was not quite on board with this though, "Please, don't provoke him, Izzy," he pleaded.

Tai didn't even turn around to face them as he answered the request for a respite.

"Don't you understand?" he let his arms fall to his sides, bowing his head, "Kari's sick, we have to find her."

"I know that, Tai," Izzy said quickly, "But we will get nothing done if we collapse from exhaustion before we find her. If we get to her and are too weak to go on it will be the same as if we weren't even there for her in the first place."

Tai turned around to stare at the other boy, trying to decide which was worse.

"We're not trying to stop you, Tai, really," the computer whiz continued, "All of us want to find Kari and the others just as much as you do, but there are limits to what we can do from here. We must stop, rest, allow our digimon time to recov-"

"Shh!" Tai said suddenly, frowning at something behind Izzy, but the poor techie that it was directed at him.

"No, Tai, you need to hear this and-"

"Not that!" the boy hissed in a half whisper as he ran up to the other three, "Something's coming!" They all listened for a moment and they heard loud, clanking footsteps and muffled voices.

"Who is that?" Agumon asked.

"No idea," Tai said as he tried to see past the darkness of the tunnels, but couldn't make anything out, "We've gotta hide." He grabbed Izzy and pulled the smaller boy into a side passage.

"Do you think they've been following us?" Agumon asked in a whisper.

"No idea," the wild haired boy shrugged, "but you two should prepare to Digivolve, just in case."

Tentomon and Agumon nodded, and they all watched and listened as whoever it was drew closer.

The voices began to get clearer and cleared, the echoes beginning to distort it less and less.

"...And when we got to the human world we had to fight of all these goons of the jerks rampaging through the city. First it was Mammothmon, then Gesomon, and then Izzy and Kabuterimon fought another one down at the docks all by themselves," they heard giggling, "You should have seen it when Koromon and Tsunomon tried to take on the subway train!"

"Is that...?" Izzy began.

"Lucy?" Tai finished.

Sure enough, just outside their hiding place, they saw the pink haired ten year old walk by, her hands behind her head and Skymomon hanging off her shoulder as usual. Then the digimon she was talking to passed into sight and they recognized the form of Andromon.

"Lucy!" Agumon cried as he ran forward, "Skymomon! You're okay!"

"Agumon!" The girl greeted back, "Then that must mean..."

"Hey, Lucy," Tai greeted with a wave, Izzy and Tentomon coming out of the hiding spot as well.

"Alright!" The girl cheered, "You're all okay! And have I got news for you!"

"Really?" The tech expert asked, tilting his head to one side, "And what are you doing here, Andromon?"

"I am looking for more rebels," the android said in his digitized voice, "I'm trying to put together an army to fight against Machinedramon. I've heard rumors that digimon are hiding in the sewers. They fled here when Machinedramon burned the cities. I've come to the sewers to organize them. And while I'm here, I'm going to fix that drip," Andromon finished.

"You know," Lucy said, looking over at the leaky pipe, "I hadn't even noticed that until you mentioned it, but now it's kind of annoying."

"That's great and all, but have any of you seen Kari and the others?" Tai asked desperately.

Lucy grinned in a mischievous way as she said, "Oh, I can't wait to see the look on your face when you hear about this."

"You mean, Queen Kari is your sister? Really? I thought Lucy was just pulling my cables," the metal digimon said.

"Queen?" Izzy asked, gaping like Tai and the digimon

"Yeah, apparently our little Kari got herself named the Queen of the Digiworld," Lucy said with a grin.

"Wait," Andromon said as he lifted his arms to the ceiling, "Just a moment," cables came out of his arms and connected to other wires that were strewn along the low ceiling. His eyes began to glow and flash with a myriad of colors as he checked the network for information on where Kari and the others were currently. "They're coming!"

"Kari and the rest are coming?" Izzy asked for clarification, "You mean here? When?"

"Now!"

"Really?" Tai asked with a hopeful grin.

"Prodigious, Andromon!" the tech genius completely agreed.

But the celebration was a little too soon.

The ground shook, Lucy screamed, and a wall exploded somewhere down the tunnel from them. It was not their friends that came through the hole but a completely unwanted interloper.

"Oh, good," the whispered growl came down to them as the dust cleared, "Just what I was looking for. Victims."

"_Machinedramon!_" the kids all said together.

"Dang it," Lucy breathed, "Why do the bad guys always gotta show up in earthquakes? Why can't they every just show up in... in... in marshmallow rain for once?"

"I really don't think now is the time to argue over the entrances of our various nefarious foes, Lucy," Izzy said, his eyes riveted on one of the last two Dark Masters.

"Hello, Andromon," Machinedramon greeted, "Babysitting? I'll destroy you first while the others watch!" the evil mechanoid dino stood to his full height, busting through the ceiling and charged forward, the metal, concrete and wiring he was moving through meaning as much to him as a stiff breeze.

"I'll hold him off," Andromon said as he stepped in front of the children and their digimon, "You hide."

"Careful!" Izzy cried as he and the others ducked into the side tunnel again.

They watched, amazed, as their android friend clasped onto the lower leg of the charging machine and held it in place for a few moments before he started to lose ground!

"Oh, wow!" Lucy breathed as they peaked out of the tunnel.

"Come on, you guys!" Tai said, darting out of the tunnel, "We've got to go help him!"

"Right," Izzy said, the small group running after the two fighting digimon.

"Andromon, hang on!" the wild haired boy shouted, "We're coming to help!"

+-9

Some distance away, a glowing Kari suddenly gasped.

"What is it, Kari?" Sora asked.

"They're coming!"

"You mean Tai?" TK asked, "When?"

"Now," The little girl narrowed her eyes.

Just ahead of them, the wall burst open and Machinedramon stampeded through.

"Machinedramon!" TK and Sora cried together. The ground began to shake and give way, but before the three of them could fall, Angemon and Angewomon pulled the three of them to safety.

At the same time, Tai and his group made it just in time to see the others land.

"Tai, it's you!" Kari exclaimed, her light growing ever brighter.

"Kari!" the boy shouted in relief, jumping over a bit of rubble and running up to his sister, the others following after him with smiles of their own.

"Sora!" Lucy called, waving.

"TK!" Izzy called next.

"Kari!" Tai said again as he finally got to his sister, picking her up and twirling her around happily.

"Tai!" Kari said his name back, no longer glowing, but as happy as she'd ever be 'til this whole mess was solved.

The rest of the kids could only smile happily as they saw this reunion.

"She made it," Izzy sighed in relief.

"Was that Andromon I saw fighting with Machinedramon?" Sora asked the techie as he walked over to stand next to her and TK.

"That's him, alright," Izzy said losing his smile, "He's sacrificing himself to protect us."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, glaring in the direction of the Dark Master now, "He's trying to build a resistance against that metal jerk! We've gotta help him!"

Before any more could be said, Machinedramon knocked Andromon to the ground, pulled back his right hand and it started spinning rapidly right at the joint. He thrust it down at the android, intent on drilling right through him. He was only to do so for a couple seconds before Birdramon tackled the metal dino, knocking him onto his rear.

While he was distracted, Angemon and Angewomon pulled Andromon away from the Dark Master.

"Are you alright, Andromon?" Angewomon asked.

"Yes, thank you," the digimon said weakly.

"We'll take you to safety," Angemon told him, one of the digimon's metal arms over his shoulders.

"No!" Birdramon said, landing before them, "Let's fight Machinedramon together!" She glared in the direction of the tyrant, then lifted into the air while the angels and android jumped back.

"_Meteor Wing!_"

"_Celestial Arrow!_"

"_Hand of Fate!_"

"_Lightning Blade!_"

The four attacks combined into a massive fireball that completely engulfed the evil monster from head to toe. The kids could only look on in wonder, hoping that this would be enough to finish the jerk off.

But it was not to be. He came out the other side of that attack with nothing to show for it.

"Machinedramon's a Mega Digimon! They can't win!" Izzy shouted over the roar of the fire that was still raging behind the monster.

"_Giga Cannon!_" Yellow blasted of energy slammed into the digimon that had tried to destroy the metal dinosaur, easily rendering them unconscious, but he didn't stop there. He just kept firing and firing until the city collapsed around them, leaving them once more open to the sky.

The evil digimon laughed as he turned to face the rest of the Digidestined, "You aren't even worth my time," he raised one arm, "You're all next! Who wanted to be the first victim?"

The kids cringed looking away. All except for one.

Kari stood tall and frowned at the menace to both worlds. She began to walk forward, beams of light beginning to shine out of the rubble around her.

"Kari!" Tai cried, worried for his sister's safety. That evil monster would crush her.

But the little girl just kept going. She walked fearlessly towards the Dark Master because she knew that, in the end. All would be well.

"How brave you are to volunteer," Machinedramon sneered at her, "I'll try to make this as painful as I can!"

Kari finally stopped, just glaring at him. But it was not she who attacked the digimon, no, it was thousands of Numemon. They were so many, in fact of point, that it almost looked like they were painting the Dark Master green.

"What do you think you're doing, Numemon?" Machinedramon demanded of them as they crawled up his legs.

"Numemon?" Kari questioned, obviously not having expected that.

"You slimy digimon call this fighting?" the metal monster asked incredulously as he was covered head to toe in the little beasts.

"Numemon," Kari quailed, tears gathering in her eyes for the danger the little creatures had put themselves in for her.

"_Giga Cannon!_"

That was it. One attack. One attack and thousands of Numemon were deleted right before Kari's eyes.

"Numemon!" Kari cried out, before she fell to the side, her strength leaving her yet again and a bright light streaking into Agumon.

"Kari!" Tai shouted, running towards his sister.

Agumon was about follow when the light began to overload him with pure energy, "I feel the power!"

Tai's digivice began to overload with energy until it all rushed out in a stream, forcing Agumon to Warp Digivolve.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to Wargreymon!"

Tai held the unconscious Kari in his arms while Wargreymon streaked by, "Wake up," he pleaded with his sister.

Wargreymon didn't stop to see if the little sister of his partner was okay. He didn't have the time. He had to end Machinedramon's threat before he got to Tai and Kari in their moment of weakness.

He ran forward, faster and faster, his clawed gauntlets held out to his sides. With a roar, he charged with everything he had, slicing at Machinedramon twice before he materialized behind the evil digimon, down on one knee.

He then glowed yellow for a moment before De-digivolving back into Koromon.

"Koromon!" Tai called, just as Kari was opening her eyes.

"Now I will finish you, once and for all!" Machindramon looked at the little girl, ignoring the In-Training digimon behind him.

"I don't think so," Koromon turned around to look at the evil digimon, "You missed what I did as Wargreymon. I sliced you like an onion!"

Angemon stood with his arm around Angewomon, Izzy, Lucy, Sora and TK stood with grins on their faces, even Andromon and Birdramon were peeling themselves off the floor to see this, all of them knowing that Koromon was right.

Tai and Kari were particularly relieved, the little girl finding her strength again, but still resting in her brother's arms.

Before everyone's eyes, Machinedramon fell to pieces. Literally. Each piece then split int the fractured streams of data and evaporated.

Then the lights began to grow brighter around them and the kids and digimon all 'oo'ed' and 'awed' at it.

"Without Machinedramon this area has become unstable," Andromon said, even as the ground started shaking, "It's beginning to fall apart."

Lucy latched onto Sora, whimpering, "I hate earthquakes!"

"It's okay," Sora said, placing one hand on the younger girl's head, "Nothing's gonna happen that we can't handle together!"

"Right!" TK nodded from her other side.

"I think it's becoming a little too dangerous," Izzy told them, "We better get out of here!"

"You're right, let's go!" Tai said, even thought he was unable to wipe the grin of victory off his face.

"Machinedramon's city is dissolving," Andromon said as Skymomon Digivolved into SkyYetimon, "My work here is finished."

"Farewell, Andromon," Angemon said to the mechanical digimon as they all lifted into the sky, "And thank you." The children and digimon all had a bird's eye view of the latest bit of Spiral mountain returning to it's proper place.

"That is some sight," Lucy said, "Isn't it?"

"You can say that again," Tai said from Angewomon's arms with Kari at his left.

"When we get down," the little girl began, "can I build one of those memorials to my friends, the Numemon?"

"Sure," Tai said softly, not even dreaming of denying her request.

"We'll all help build it," Sora assured her, "Right, guys?"

"_Yeah!_"

Chapter Forty Six: End.

Please Enjoy.


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